longtimeflyin

That's in base salary only. You're missing the complete picture.

CZAMFlyer

Salary is salary and bonuses + options are on top of that. Some CEOs receive a token salary + the gravy, and others - like Smith - receive a healthy salary + gravy. I don't think any of the picture has been missed.

Some people interpret investments will be made with half of pre-tax salary; others assume half of post-tax salary. It wasn't made clear, but there's more than one way to calculate the amount left over to invest. Let's also assume the CEO of a large corporation has access to rather proficient accountants tasked with minimizing tax burdens.

The Lev

Quoting from the Points Guy article linked above, which of course could be wrong):Having said that, I just remembered that France has some fairly generous tax provisions for ex-pats living "temporarily" in France.
https://www.welcometofrance.com/en/t...emption-scheme

24left

The article from The Points Guy that I posted yesterday cites their source with a link to the Financial Times. Sure, the Times could be wrong too, but....


Channel NewsAsia cites AFP as their source for their article

New Air France-KLM chief vows to invest half of salary in airline

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...rline-10729574

QUOTES:

"But the (French) government has defended his appointment, citing a 19-year career at Air Canada, where he led labour negotiations ahead of the launch of a low-cost subsidiary.

The 47-year-old, who was chief operating officer at Air Canada, is also credited with turning the airline around in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis.

"We sought out one of the top professionals in the world," Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne said on French television on Monday.

"What is urgent now is a strategic plan," she stressed. "Obviously he will be meeting with unions and I hope everyone is going to contribute to this development project for Air France."

24left

Oh and meanwhile.......posted 2 hours ago


Air France pilots' union confident new CEO will resolve pay crisis | Labor content from ATWOnline

Sep 18, 2018 Helen Massy-Beresford

QUOTES:

"SNPL pilots’ union president Philippe Evain said he had a short but extremely interesting meeting with Smith......

Evain’s first impression of Smith was a “breath of fresh air,” he said, and a manager who is “young, passionate about aviation and extremely motivated”—all signs he said were encouraging for social dialogue at the group."

longtimeflyin

No. Jumper Jack, as usual, is taking a swipe at people like Ben because he believes that CEOs are all overpaid, and hence his tongue in cheek comment that Ben should just be paid $1 notwitstanding the fact that most CEOs with $1 salary are also paid millions in stock.

Smith doesn't even receive a healthy salary, tax withstanding here. He probably made more with all of his AC stock + salary at his old job, and yet AC is a fraction of the size of AF.

The Lev

AC is less than half of Air France-KLM in terms of revenue but it currently has a higher market value.

For what it's worth, Ben Smith's compensation for the last few years has been:
2017: $650,000 base, $3,989,708 total
2016: $650,000 base, $3,999,844 total
2015: $615,003 base, $3,847,593 total
2014: $528,335 base, $2,501,797 total
see page 67 here: https://www.welcometofrance.com/en/t...emption-scheme
These may understate his actual take-home since AC stock has performed very well over the last few years.

At Air France he's making more than twice the base salary (when converted from Euros) and seems to have higher total remuneration as well - assuming he hits targets, which in public companies, executives seem to find a way to do.

Stranger

https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises...ce-791483.html

Looks like Ben Smith is also going to the the head of Air France at least temporarily and even possibly permanently, in addition to being the president of AF-KLM.

My gut feeling is that he is going to deal with unions by being more flexible, in other words, more generous to labor than his predecessors. Perhaps with some restrictions maybe in time until the business gets better, or something like that. Basically doing his best to get it across that in his mind they are all on the same side in this; if things work well everyone should benefit...

Argument for management/shareholders side being that there is value in labor peace. Which to me looks like what happened at AC.

Stranger

Getting interesting...

First in an interview to FT (behind a paywall) he warns unions not to expect a (French) govt bailout, since they plan to disinvest. Next he apparently gets a scolding by another French minister on the basis govt share selling is not happenig. At least until prices go up...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...rench-minister

Also:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...irline-before/

Stranger

More action: Ben Smith now interim AF president after Terner's resignation:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKCN1M728Y

https://www.lemonde.fr/entreprises/a...5_1656994.html

Rough translation:
Anyway, so far so good.

Stranger

As I more or less expected, given the AC track record: first be non-confrontational and get social peace. Then look forward to the future:

https://www.ft.com/content/2cf1f24e-...2-7574db66bcd5

In French:

https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/arti...2012_3234.html

Anyway, looks like a good start.

yyznomad

Just to add additional links... also on France24 (as well as several other news outlets):

https://www.france24.com/en/20181019...rikes-airlines

24left

Lucky's second column today about Air Canada , or related news

QUOTE:

"So I was really impressed by the pick that Air France-KLM announced for their new CEO. Ben Smith recently took over at the helm of one of Europe’s mega-airlines. For those of you who don’t know who Ben is, he was the former President & COO at Air Canada, and in my opinion he did an outstanding job there."

"He did a great job negotiating with unions at Air Canada, and I was confident he’d be able to do the same in his new role at Air France-KLM. In fairness, I also expected he’d face a lot of challenges:......"

https://onemileatatime.com/air-france-labor-agreements/

24left

Transpacificflyer

Key Point: There is NO long term labour agreement. NONE It is a temporary agreement. (I will explain this shortly.)

The ode to Ben Smith is ridiculous, particularly the assertion that the labour woes were magically solved with his arrival. It's quite a leap, since Mr. Smith only was officially installed as of 27-September. It is even more astounding since Mr. Smith has a specific mission as defined by the BOD;
Benjamin Smith’s priority will be to define Air France’s short and medium-term strategic vision, find a solution to salary issues and set up a new company governance structure.

I will go one step further and say that the claim is an insult and dismissal of the work done since early last year to reach an agreement with the unions. The first step in the settlement of labour woes was the removal of multiple members of the management at Air France and that occurred many months before Mr. Smith arrived. In fact, if one wishes to sing praise, it should be to the management of KLM who were quite insistent on the need to change. They were supported by the Dutch government who were weary of seeing KLM employees held hostage by Air France and its uncompromising unions.

Note that the key labour (temporary) agreement came May 29 with the signing with the SNPL pilots union.

And now back to the key point: There is no long term agreement. What exists is a POSTPONEMENT; a delay, a kicking of the can down the road, because the real labour negotiations are about to start.

All that has been signed is a one year agreement. (As per the press release, the salary negotiations will start again in October 2019.) One year agreements do not ensure labour peace. They are a recipe for labour strife. However, in this situation they are an indication of an attempt at good faith bargaining to allow for the new management of Air France to get ready.

Air France will be starting labour negotiations with its most vocal and two most active unions now. As per the Air France Press release;

AIR FRANCE CONTINUES THE DIALOGUE WITH ITS SOCIAL PARTNERS AND OPENS CATEGORICAL NEGOTIATIONS WITH ITS FLIGHT CREW. Published on - October 24th, 2018
After signing a cross-category agreement for 2018 and 2019, Air France announces the opening of specific negotiations with flight crew representatives in compliance with the legal framework.
The categorical negotiations with the representative unions of the pilots will begin on 5th November. The negotiations with the representative unions of cabin crew will start on 7th November.

Let's revisit in a year and see if he is the golden boy with the magic touch.