Mercedes' Swedish-German CEO Ola Källenius earned more than a quarter of a million kroner a day in 2024, even though the brand is in crisis.
In 2024, Mercedes paid an annual salary of 93 million kroner to the brand's CEO, the Swedish-German Ola Källenius.
The amount, which corresponds to more than a quarter of a million kroner per working day, is received by Källenius even though Mercedes' sales are lagging significantly.
This is what Handelsblatt writes.
However, the Germans are not alone in gilding their leading figures. In fact, it is happening almost all over the automotive industry that top executives are getting pay raises.
This also applies to Ola Källenius, who has been the top manager at Mercedes since mid-May 2019. And he has the prospect of even more money.
In 2023, the Stuttgart brand extended the contract with the director, so he will now hold the position until 2029.
Monster-lon rolls in even though Mercedes is in the middle of a crisis
In fact, Källenius' salary in 2024 is so high that he is among the business leaders in Germany who earn the absolute most.
Even though, with a salary of a total of 12.5 million euros (when bonus schemes are included, ed.), he actually earned a little less than in 2023.
Yet he is one of the best paid in his industry. Ola Källenius also managed to redeem a number of otherwise very long-term bonus steps despite several savings requirements.
Previously, Källenius was the highest paid among the 30 largest companies on the German stock market.
However, in 2024 he was surpassed by Christian Klein, head of the software company SAP. This is primarily because Klein's salary is closely tied to SAP's share price, which rose significantly that year.
Källenius began his career at Mercedes in 1993. He entered the company as a trainee. Over the years, he advanced, and in 2019 he replaced Dieter Zetsche, who was himself behind the failed merger of Mercedes and Chrysler.
Källenius is also the first non-German (he was born in Sweden, ed.) to ever lead Mercedes. In addition to the post in Stuttgart, the Swedish-German is also chairman of another very powerful organization. Read more about it here .
