Toyota slashed directors' pay by 11 percent in fiscal 2009

TOKYO: Toyota said Friday that its directors had returned part of their wages, or 2.17 million dollars, last fiscal year to take responsibility for the previous year's loss, the first in six decades.

Their remuneration totalled 1.64 billion yen (17.8 million dollars) in the year to March, down 11 per cent from the previous year, Toyota told its shareholders ahead of a meeting this month, according to a document.

The carmaker paid 1.43 billion yen to its 38 directors and 210 million yen to its seven auditors.

The directors voluntarily returned part of their monthly pay after the company swung to its first net loss in 59 years in the fiscal year to March 2009, Dow Jones Newswires said.

The carmaker, like other exporters, was hit by the global economic downturn and a recession at home that saw auto sales crumble.

Directors did not receive bonuses during the same financial year either, it said, a time when Toyota faced its biggest crisis in its history when it pulled around 10 million vehicles due to safety issues.

It roared back into the black in the fiscal year ended March with an annual profit of 209.4 billion yen. It expects the figure to soar 48 percent in the current year, rebounding from its safety recalls.