Nissan CEO Made $9.8 Million

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Nissan Motor Co. President Carlos Ghosn said Wednesday that he received 890 million yen ($9.8 million) in compensation in the fiscal year ended March, making him the highest-paid executive at a listed Japanese company, according to publicly disclosed information reported by The Wall Street Journal.

This is the first time the carmaker has released the top executive's compensation figure, as the Financial Services Agency's new rules require that publicly traded companies in Japan disclose the annual compensation of executives receiving 100 million yen or more.

The amount compares with the roughly 816.5 million yen ($9 million) that Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer received in a combination of 410 million yen in salary and bonuses, and 406.5 million yen in stock options during the just-ended business year. Nissan declined to give the breakdown of Ghosn's salary and stock-option package.

The paychecks of Messrs. Stringer and Ghosn, two foreign heads of major Japanese companies, are being closely watched as compensation levels for Japanese executives are usually much less than for their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe. Even so, some observers had expected the pay levels to be in line with U.S. and European standards as the two men had previously held executive positions at overseas firms.