Marchionne heirs made more in 2019 than GM's Barra

MILAN -- The heirs of the late Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne received shares in the automaker worth at least 21.6 million euros ($23.5 million) in 2019, according to FCA's annual report.

The sum is more than the compensation package of the industry's highest-paid car executive, General Motors' Mary Barra, who received $21.6 million last year.

FCA’s current CEO, Mike Manley, received compensation totaling 13.28 million euros ($14.45 million).

FCA said the 1,951,457 shares were delivered as part of its employment agreement with Marchionne, who died at age 66 on July 24, 2018, in Switzerland after being hospitalized a few weeks earlier. Prior to his death, Marchionne was also CEO and chairman of Ferrari.

The shares were awarded "as a result of overachievement of performance objectives for the 2014-2018 performance period," said FCA's annual report, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 25.

The delivery date of the shares was not included in the report, but even at FCA’s lowest 2019 share price of 11.05 euros, they would have been worth 21.56 million euros.

Marchionne's heirs stand to receive even more money from FCA.

The report said other payments would be made "consistent with obligations set forth in Mr. Marchionne's employment agreement, including his post-mandate benefit of five times his base compensation."

His base pay in 2017, his last full year as CEO, was 3.54 million euros. Based on that, the post-mandate benefit would be worth 17.7 million euros.

The FCA report does not specify to whom the shares were delivered. Marchionne and his wife, Orlandina, had two sons, Alessio Giacomo, born in 1989, and Jonathan Tyler, born in 1994. It has been reported in Italy that the couple separated after Marchionne joined Fiat in 2004. But it is not publicly known whether they divorced.

After Marchionne's death, a 1.6 percent stake that he held in an Italian financial holding company called Porta Romana 4 was split among Orlandina, the two sons, and Manuela Battezzato, Marchionne's longtime partner. According to a document filed by Battezzato with the register Italian company and seen by Automotive News Europe, each of the heirs received 25 percent of the stake. 

The value of the stake is not known, but the inheritance documents provide information about the identity of possible heirs in the FCA report. 

Marchionne’s heirs have also received more than 10 million euros worth of Ferrari shares, with the possibility to receive even more. 

Under Marchionne’s 2016-20 long-term equity incentive plan, which was transferred to them after his death, they received 150,000 Ferrari shares in 2019, worth at least 13 million euros.

Ferrari and FCA are controlled by Exor, a holding company that is majority-owned by the Agnelli family.

Marchionne received no base salary or bonuses from Ferrari during his tenure as chairman and CEO. He was chairman from October 2015, when Ferrari became a separately listed company, until July 2018, and CEO from May 2016 to July 2018.

According to Ferrari’s 2019 financial report, filed Feb. 18 with the SEC, the supercar maker ranked third in shareholder return in its peer group from 2016-18, reaching a target in the incentive plan and leading to the award of the shares to Marchionne’s heirs. 

The report did not specify whether those shares were actually transferred to the heirs. At Ferrari’s lowest 2019 closing price of 86.52 euros, the shares would have had a value of 12.98 million euros.

An additional 300,000 shares in Marchionne’s plan remained outstanding as of Dec. 31, 2019. They are subject to vesting based on the share price performance of Ferrari compared with its peer group over two related periods, 2016-19 and 2016-20. At Ferrari’s current share price of about 146 euros, they would be worth 43.8 million euros.