Mercedes Benz-Boss Ola Källenius (54) could have become the top earner among the top managers of the largest listed companies last year with remuneration of 12.74 million euros. The Stuttgart-based carmaker reported an 80 percent jump in salary for the Swedish native in its compensation report published on Friday. It is the highest salary ever for a DAX CEO for 2023. However, there are still no annual reports from numerous companies in the leading index.
The fact that Källenius’ jump was so high was due to several factors: The basic salary at Mercedes-Benz was increased last year after manager salaries had not been increased since 2018. Variable bonuses increased because a long-term incentive program that has been running since 2019 was paid out and the targets linked to returns and cash flow were exceeded.
In addition, at Mercedes-Benz, half of the annual bonus is no longer paid out until the following year. Last year, the Stuttgart car manufacturer introduced the achievement of sustainability goals as a further criterion for measuring the performance of top managers. Källenius announced this shortly after taking office in 2019.
Merck boss also earned double figures
The 54-year-old trumps the boss of his industry rival with his remuneration Volkswagen, Oliver Blume (55). According to the annual report, he received a total of 8.7 million euros in 2023. As part of the austerity program, he gave up part of his salary.
According to the data available so far, only the only woman to manage a DAX company made a double-digit million salary last year besides Källenius: Belén Garijo (63) exceeded that Merck KGaA With a constant remuneration of 10.53 million euros, the ten million threshold was reached for the third time in a row.
SAP boss Christian Klein (43) received 7.2 million euros for last year, which was 53 percent more than the previous year. In comparison, the salary increase of around 10 percent for Allianz boss Oliver Bäte (59) still seems comparatively moderate. With 7.47 million euros, Bäte will certainly be among the top 10 best-paid DAX bosses. The total compensation of Deutsche BankBoss Christian Sewing (53), on the other hand, was slightly lower at a good 8.7 million euros; for the 2022 financial year it was a good 8.9 million euros.
The remuneration of many DAX bosses has developed positively in 2023 – this is the result of the rising profits and share prices in recent years. The fixed salaries for board members usually only make up a fraction of the remuneration. The lion’s share goes to bonuses for performance in the past year and long-term bonuses, which cover a period of three to four years.