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Ford shares are up 700% over last year

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What a difference a year makes.

Ford Motor Co. shares closed up 70 cents Monday at $13.99. That’s a gain of 723% from the stock’s low of $1.70 on March 6, 2009. The reasons for the gain are pretty evident. Ford has passed General Motors Corp. to become the leading auto seller in the United States. Its market share is approaching 20%. And it was the only major U.S. automaker not to go through a bankruptcy restructuring last year.

Alan Mulally, Ford’s president and chief executive, was rewarded richly for driving the automaker through the recession safely. He made $17.9 million last year, according to a calculation by the Associated Press based on government filings disclosed by Ford on Monday.

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Mulally took a 30% salary cut to $1.4 million in February 2009, and he got no bonus for the second year in a row. But the value of his stock options and stock awards rose 9% to more than $16 million as the market improved and Ford’s shares climbed later in the year.

It’s unlikely that shareholders minded the huge payout. Those who stuck with the company saw huge gains in the value of their holdings. Anyone who stuck with GM or Chrysler Group lost virtually all of their investment to the bankruptcies.

-- Jerry Hirsch

Twitter.com/LATimesJerry

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