Ford Exec Bonus' - Bu- Buye

DETROIT, Aug. 29 -- Reuters reported today that Ford Motor Co. will not give bonuses this year to 6,000 top executives, including Chief Executive Jacques Nasser, as its profits have shrunk under pressure from declining sales and the Firestone tire recall.

The world's second-largest automaker is in the midst of cutting 4,000 to 5,000 white-collar jobs in North America, out of 50,000 total, and has warned that a larger restructuring is on the way.

In addition to the $3 billion cost of recalling 13 million Firestone tires, Ford has also had to pay $400 million to resolve lingering quality problems. And Ford's market share has fallen this year as the U.S. economy has slowed and foreign automakers have stepped up rollouts of new models.

Ford warned this month that all those costs would reduce its full-year earnings to about 70 cents per share, compared with $3.22 per share in 2000. Ford lost $551 million in the second quarter due to the costs of the Firestone recall.

The decision to cut the bonuses, which totaled $442 million last year, was made this month, said spokeswoman Anne Marie Gattari. The cut even applies to Nasser, who was given a bonus of $7.7 million last year.

"Our bonuses are tied to our profits," she said.

The bonus cut was first reported by in The Detroit News.

Ford's lower-level white-collar employees and hourly workers represented by the United Auto Workers receive bonuses using a formula based on Ford's North American profits. Gattari said no decision had been made on the level of those bonuses.