The soon-to-retire boss of luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is to receive a record pension worth a staggering 4,250 EUR a day.
Dieter Zetsche, the 65-year-old Chairman of the Board of Management at Daimler and the chief of of Mercedes-Benz, is set to retire in May when he turns 66.
The trained engineer began his career in 1976 at the research department in Stuttgart of the German luxury car manufacturers.
In his 43-year career he climbed the corporate ladder before receiving a place on the board of the Daimler/Mercedes-Benz group in 1998.
Zetsche, who is nicknamed “Doctor Zee” and is known for his conspicuous moustache, has been the chairman of company since 2006
According to local media, Zetsche will become the richest retired CEO in the country when he leaves the boardroom.
He currently earns 8.6 million EUR (7,445,880 GBP) per year, but Zetsche will not be short on cash after his retirement.
According to reports, Zetsche will be able to claim pension benefits of 4,250 EUR (3,690 GBP) per day from the year 2020 onwards.
With the pension he will easily surpass the current frontrunner and competitor Martin Winterkorn of Volkswagen, who reportedly receives 3,100 EUR (2,691 GBP) per day fro his pension.
Daimler spokesman Joerg Howe said: “With his retirement from the Board of Management of Daimler AG, Dieter Zetsche has a firm commitment to an annual retirement pension of 1.05 million EUR (9,090,900 GBP), which has been frozen at this level since the end of 2005.”
In addition, Zetsche has a claim to an “annual capital building from the current pension system” like all other executives have according to Howe.
Howe said: “The amount of capital put aside for Dieter Zetsche and frozen since 2013 would theoretically lead to an additional annual pension of around 500,000 EUR (432,900 GBP).”
It would therefore mean his total pension is around 1.55 million EUR per year (1,345,613 GBP) – or around 3,690 GBP per day.
And that might still not be all for Zetsche who is set to take over the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board of Daimler in 2021.
The current chief inspector Manfred Bischoff earns 500,000 EUR (434,022 GBP) a year, and it is expected that the Zetsche will earn a similar figure.
Howe said: “This sum is not automatic and will be redefined when a new member joins the Supervisory Board.”
According to the German Federal Pension Fund, the average pension was 1,441 EUR (1,251 GBP) per month in the Western German states and 1,381 (1,199 GBP) in the former Eastern German states as of 1st July 2018, meaning that Zetsche makes about three times as much in a day than the average German in a month.
Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
