Robert Nardelli - Chrysler

Chrysler

On August 5, 2007, he became chairman and CEO of Chrysler, which had recently been taken private by private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management. His annual salary at Chrysler was $1, with other compensation not publicly disclosed. (It's rumored that the terms were that he wouldn't be paid unless Chrysler succeeded. If they did succeed, he would be paid a salary along the lines of $30 million.)

On February 17, 2008, before his first Daytona 500 race as Chrysler CEO, Nardelli guaranteed that Dodge would win the race for the first time since 2002, and that he would award a $1 million bonus to the Dodge team that did it. Ryan Newman, the driver of the #12 Alltel Dodge, fulfilled this promise, and his car owner Roger Penske collected the $1 million bounty.

On December 4, 2008, in an appearance on CNN's Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, when asked "So what do you say about the argument that the Japanese, the Germans, Koreans make better cars than the Americans?" Nardelli responded, "We spent about half a billion dollars in the first several months. Our warranty costs are down 29%. It's an interesting comparison because in the hearing today, going around the panel, the majority of the Senators said that citing specific vehicles that they own that they've got 60, 70, 80,000 miles. The comment was you guys are making them too good and therefore, we're not buying vehicles and we're contributing to your problem. That was from the Senators on the committee today."

On March 17, 2009, Nardelli said that Chrysler Financial would require a second round of loans. On April 21, 2009, it was revealed that a $750 million loan from the government was turned down, on the grounds that it would have required that executive compensation be capped. On April 30, 2009, Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The same day, Bob Nardelli announced that he would leave the company as soon as the bankruptcy was over, and his replacement was announced (Sergio Marchionne ), who would likely face a pay cap.