DaimlerChrysler to Axe Executives Stock Options

German auto giant DaimlerChrysler has announced that it will no longer reward its executives by offering them the right to buy shares in the carmaker at a discount, a group spokesman reportedly said on Sunday. According to a Reuters report, the spokesman said Daimler chief executive Jürgen Schrempp would present a new remuneration system for its 6,000 executives at the group's annual shareholders meeting in Berlin on Wednesday. Reuters said the spokesman declined to give details but the German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag reported half of executives' remuneration would in the future depend on the group's net return on capital, and the other half on Daimler's return on sales over a three-year period compared to its top three rivals in a peer group. The decision comes on the back of the Mannesmann trail in which executives have been criticized for allegedly receiving huge sums in Vodafone's takeover of the company. Observers have commented that the case would change the way executives are rewarded.