Ford's Alan Mulally will leave with nearly $300 million nest egg

Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally will leave the company with stock and options with him that today are worth nearly $300 million.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Such a compensation package is unusually large for a CEO at an old-line industrial company with less than a decade on the job. Eye-popping CEO pay is more typically found at tech companies or on Wall Street.

Mulally's Ford holdings are bigger than that of chairman William Ford Jr., the great-grandson of founder Henry Ford.

Mulally, 68, has accumulated 6.2 million shares of company stock, according to government filings.

In addition, he's due to get another 1.8 million shares in coming years, though he's likely to sell about a third of those shares to pay taxes.

And he has 17.7 million stock options to buy shares at reduced prices that he has yet to exercise.

Together, those nearly 25.7 million shares are worth $419 million based on Thursday's closing price for Ford. However Mulally would need to spend almost $130 million to exercise stock options. That leaves him with a net gain of $289 million on his Ford shares at current market value.

Even that may be a conservative estimate. Ford gives valuations for stock options based on assumptions about share prices years in the future. Some of those estimates are far above current values.

Related 12 top paid CEOs

Whatever the gain that Mulally eventually receives on those shares, much of it is due to the strong performance of Ford (F, Fortune 500)shares during Mulally's tenure. Shares fell as low as a $1.39 a share in November 2008, and are now above $16.

Under Mulally's leadership, Ford was able to avoid the bankruptcy and subsequent bailout that wiped out shareholders at General Motor (GM, Fortune 500)and Chrysler Group.

The company shed weaker brands such as Volvo, Land Rover and Mercury, revitalized the lineup at its core Ford brand and conserved enough cash to ride out the recession.

Since then it has come back stronger than ever. Ford earned $7.2 billion in 2013. Profits were healthy enough to pay all the hourly factory workers a record profit-sharing bonus of about $8,800 each.

The company recaptured its position as the No. 2 automaker in terms of U.S. sales from Toyota, behind only GM.

Related: Ousted Yahoo executive gets $58 million golden parachute

During his tenure at Ford, Mulally received a total base salary of $13.5 million, and cash bonuses of $30.8 million. That gave him a total of $44.2 million in cash through the end of last year.

He also sold more than $68 million in stock during the past five years to generate cash needed to pay taxes and exercise stock options.

Mulally will also receive a lump-sum retirement payment equal to four times what Ford has already contributed to his retirement plan.

The company said Mulally's compensation has been in the best interest of shareholders.

"Ford had record profits in North America and Asia Pacific last year, which helped propel the company to one of its best-pre-tax operating profits in its history," said spokeswoman Susan Krusel.

"We believe strongly in aligning executive compensation with the company's business performance and long-term shareholder value. That's why almost 90 percent of Alan's compensation is performance based."

First Published: April 25, 2014: 8:22 AM ET

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Stocks fall as Ukraine unease returns

Click on chart to track premarkets

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all fell in early trading as investors balanced corporate quarterly results and renewed fears about Ukraine.

Related: S&P cuts Russia's credit rating

Senior government officials told CNN that the U.S. could impose new sanctions on Russia as early as Friday for failing to take steps to reduce the tension in eastern Ukraine. Sanctions would target key allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, high-profile oligarchs and possibly companies.

The latest reading on CNNMoney's Fear & Greed index shows sentiment is still languishing in "fear" mode.

Related: Fear & Greed Index still gripped by fear

Meanwhile, quarterly results keep rolling in. Ford (F, Fortune 500) shares fell 3% after the automaker reported its first quarterly earnings decline since 2012. Profits also were below analysts' estimates.

Shares of Dow component Visa (V, Fortune 500) tumbled after the credit card giant missed revenue forecasts.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) bounced after the company reported first-quarter sales that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue Tuesday, but investors weren't surprised, and shares tanked 8% as worries about rising costs at the tech giant surfaced. Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) rose after reporting a gain in sales and earnings.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech 30

European indexes were lower in afternoon trading, with Germany's DAX down 1%. Germany is Russia's largest trading partner in Europe. New sanctions would hurt both economies.

Most major Asian markets finished the day down as well.

First Published: April 25, 2014: 9:50 AM ET

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Friday Links

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

A weekly collection of design, data and interactive links.

Design/Data viz
George and Jonathan | WebGL music videos
Restart Page | Reboot into the past
Responsive Design | The cassette tape as responsive design
Math Type | Typefaces based on problems of computational geometry
Jing Zhang | Three-dimensional illustrations and infographics

Photo/Video
Birds | A lighthearted essay on contextualized characters
Golf Balls | Golf balls cut in half
Tokyo Backwards | Filmed walking backwards and played in reverse
Damp Spirits | Animated short

Code
Maze Solver | D3 maze solver
GIve 'n' Go | A curated gallery of Dribbble shots reworked as interactive CodePen pens
Tools | Templates and design resources

See last week's links

Have a nice weekend!
@dubly and @talyellin

First Published: April 25, 2014: 10:05 AM ET

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'Glamping' goes mainstream

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

"Glamping" -- featuring roomy canvas tents, comfy mattresses and overhead lighting -- has gone mainstream and the businesses behind it are thriving.

It was something of a gamble when Patricia Jensen started ConTENTment Camping six years ago specializing in luxury tent rentals for weddings, private events and festivals. She spent more than $75,000 the first two years to create what she refers to as pop-up hotels -- buying large, custom-made canvas tents, linens, beds, blankets and other furniture.

She quickly discovered that glamping has a universal appeal, particularly to travelers who don't want to assemble a tent or might not even own one.

"I don't think you have to be a certain age to enjoy the outdoors and to appreciate being comfortable," said Jensen, whose business has grown from 20 to 400 tents.

Based in Buffalo, N.Y., ConTENTment leases semi-trailers to move tents and across the country, something Jensen compares to the circus coming to town. Although the full-time staff is just herself and one other employee, her crew can grow into the dozens from May to September when the company is busiest.

The price -- and the experience -- can run the gamut. At Sturgis, the nation's biggest motorcycle rally, a night on a cot in one of Jensen's single-person tents costs just $65.50. Meanwhile at the Indy 500 (which makes its glamping debut this year), a tent with a queen bed will run you $1,100 for four nights.

And it's not just babyboomers with aching backs who want to glamp. At the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Del., the glamping options sold out within weeks -- before any of the more standard options. And the average age of those glampers is 33. At $999 for four nights and five days, glampers who buy the "premium" package can stay in an air-conditioned tent with a queen bed and access to the glamping lounge and upgraded restroom trailers.

Glamping's popularity has been building during the last four years -- even the Royal Couple spent a night in a lavish tent during a recent trip to Australia. It's helped companies like Davis Tent & Awning in Denver weather the recession.

Though glampers aren't a huge part of their customer base, they're significant because the tents often cost thousands of dollars.

To meet customers' needs, the company offers more luxurious materials, air conditioning vents and additional windows.

Davis Tent even outfitted the San Diego Zoo with 44 canvas tents a few years ago for their Safari Park where people can pay to spend the night.

"It's one of the cooler projects we've done," said co-owner Roy Davis. "Some of my customers who spent thousands and thousands of dollars to go to Africa on safari said they could get kind of the same feeling [in California]."

Jensen's tent rental company isn't the only one enjoying the luxury ride. Outdoors Geek, also based in Denver, started renting standard camping setups in 2010 but quickly found that glamping rentals, particularly for music festivals, had huge potential.

"It will be our number one area of investment this year," said cofounder Will Marquardt. Last summer, Outdoors Geek needed 100 safari-style tents. This year they've added 120. He expects more competition.

"We're just trying to stay in front of it," Marquardt said. "There's a lot to being one of the first ones to the plate."

First Published: April 25, 2014: 6:23 AM ET

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Ford shares sink after profits drop

Ford posted lower earnings in the first quarter - its first drop since 2012.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company also fell below expectations set by Wall Street analysts for the first time since 2011. And it repeated its earlier guidance for lower pretax earnings for the year because of the cost of rolling out new models.

Ford (F, Fortune 500) shares, which have been performing much better than rivals General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) and Toyota Motor (TM) this year, were down in premarket trading.

Related: Reports - Ford decides on CEO succession

The company reported narrowly higher revenue and global auto sales. But the profit tumbled 39% to $989 million.

The drop was due to problems in its core North American auto operations, where pretax earnings fell by $892 million. The company partly blamed bad weather for slower sales. It also increased reserves for warranty work on prior year models, including those involved in recalls.

But North America wasn't the only problem; losses also increased in South America. All told, results in North and South America weighed against improved results in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the rest of the world.

First Published: April 25, 2014: 7:52 AM ET

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Ford's Alan Mulally will leave with nearly $300 million nest egg

Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally will leave the company with stock and options with him that today are worth nearly $300 million.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Such a compensation package is unusually large for a CEO at an old-line industrial company with less than a decade on the job. Eye-popping CEO pay is more typically found at tech companies or on Wall Street.

Mulally's Ford holdings are bigger than that of chairman William Ford Jr., the great-grandson of founder Henry Ford.

Mulally, 68, has accumulated 6.2 million shares of company stock, according to government filings.

In addition, he's due to get another 1.8 million shares in coming years, though he's likely to sell about a third of those shares to pay taxes.

And he has 17.7 million stock options to buy shares at reduced prices that he has yet to exercise.

Together, those nearly 25.7 million shares are worth $419 million based on Thursday's closing price for Ford. However Mulally would need to spend almost $130 million to exercise stock options. That leaves him with a net gain of $289 million on his Ford shares at current market value.

Even that may be a conservative estimate. Ford gives valuations for stock options based on assumptions about share prices years in the future. Some of those estimates are far above current values.

Related 12 top paid CEOs

Whatever the gain that Mulally eventually receives on those shares, much of it is due to the strong performance of Ford (F, Fortune 500)shares during Mulally's tenure. Shares fell as low as a $1.39 a share in November 2008, and are now above $16.

Under Mulally's leadership, Ford was able to avoid the bankruptcy and subsequent bailout that wiped out shareholders at General Motor (GM, Fortune 500)and Chrysler Group.

The company shed weaker brands such as Volvo, Land Rover and Mercury, revitalized the lineup at its core Ford brand and conserved enough cash to ride out the recession.

Since then it has come back stronger than ever. Ford earned $7.2 billion in 2013. Profits were healthy enough to pay all the hourly factory workers a record profit-sharing bonus of about $8,800 each.

The company recaptured its position as the No. 2 automaker in terms of U.S. sales from Toyota, behind only GM.

Related: Ousted Yahoo executive gets $58 million golden parachute

During his tenure at Ford, Mulally received a total base salary of $13.5 million, and cash bonuses of $30.8 million. That gave him a total of $44.2 million in cash through the end of last year.

He also sold more than $68 million in stock during the past five years to generate cash needed to pay taxes and exercise stock options.

Mulally will also receive a lump-sum retirement payment equal to four times what Ford has already contributed to his retirement plan.

The company said Mulally's compensation has been in the best interest of shareholders.

"Ford had record profits in North America and Asia Pacific last year, which helped propel the company to one of its best-pre-tax operating profits in its history," said spokeswoman Susan Krusel.

"We believe strongly in aligning executive compensation with the company's business performance and long-term shareholder value. That's why almost 90 percent of Alan's compensation is performance based."

First Published: April 25, 2014: 8:22 AM ET

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GM's $1.3 billion recall cost wipes out profit

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The cost of the recall and some other accounting charges left the company with a profit of only $108 million in the quarter.

The company recalled a total of 7 million vehicles during the quarter, most prominently 2.6 million with a faulty ignition switch tied to at least 13 deaths. GM said it would spend about $700 million to fix that ignition switch, and another $600 million on other recalls.

While most of those repairs did not start until this month, the company booked the full cost of the recalls in the first quarter.

Still, the nation's largest automaker will be able to afford the massive recall cost. The earnings, excluding the special charges, were better than expected by Wall Street analysts.

Shares of GM (GM, Fortune 500) are down nearly 16% so far this year, but they rose nearly 3% in premarket trading after the earnings report.

Sales of GM models, even in the United States, have not been hurt by the recall crisis, as revenue increased 1% to $37.4 billion, and the number of vehicles sold rose 2% to 2.4 million. It reported record sales in China, the largest market for car sales where GM sells more vehicles than it does in the United States.

The company ended the quarter with $27 billion in cash and marketable securities on its balance sheet, up 11% from a year ago. It was able to pay its first dividend in five years in the period.

Related: GM - Steps to a recall nightmare

The company had already warned of the charge to deal with a flood of recalls in the period. The company had originally estimated that it would need a $300 million charge to deal with the cost of a recalls. But as the extent of the problem grew larger and larger in the period, it raised its estimated cost to $1.3 billion.

First Published: April 24, 2014: 7:52 AM ET

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Female gun instructors in hot demand

Deb Ferns, Lisa Munson and Kay Miculek, co-founders of Babes with Bullets.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The market for female gun instructors is booming as more women want to learn to shoot -- both for self defense and for sport, said Tina Wilson-Cohen, who owns She Can Shoot, an all-women firearm and self-defense training business in Fairfax, Va.

"When I started training women in 2007, there weren't many female instructors," she said. "Now you're not the only name in town."

The National Rifle Association, noting the burgeoning market opportunity, is trying to boost its ranks of 8,000 NRA-certified female instructors, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

In 2009, the NRA organized 280 "Women On Target" training clinics nationwide, and 8,000 women signed up. In 2013, the group held 450 clinics for 12,000 women.

While Arulanandam said self protection is still the primary reason women take up gun training, he said they're increasingly realizing "that they'd like to pursue it for activities like target shooting or skeet shooting."

Related: For the gun industry, women are next big thing

Alecs Dean offers several NRA-certified courses at his range in Fort Myers, Fla. In the last two years, two-thirds of his clients have been women compared to just a third five years ago.

Since 2012, Dean has offered a 50% discount to women who enroll in his instructor training course.

"We need more women instructors," said Dean. "They bring a perspective that men don't have when it comes to their self defense. It could be something simple like knowing which side a woman typically carries her purse."

And the perspective is appreciated by his male students as well -- many even prefer a female instructor.

But many of the female-oriented shooting groups use a women-training-women model.

"There's no ego involved," said Deb Ferns, a co-founder of Babes with Bullets. "Women instructors demystify the language, they're more patient and more nurturing."

The company, which offers training camps across the country, was started in 2004, but its popularity has recently exploded, said Ferns.

"Since 2011, we started getting so many inquiries that we had to hire someone just to keep up with the demand," she said.

While she's now a competitive shooter, Ferns, 59, didn't pick up a gun until she was 45 and her daughters left for college.

"I wanted to take up something that my husband and I could do together," she said. "I wanted ballroom dancing, he wanted shooting sports."

Now, Babes with Bullets conducts 24 camps a year (a mix of three-day intensives and one-day sessions), and has over 4,000 alumni ranging from 24 to 74 years old. "80% of them have never touched a gun," said Ferns. "They're professional women, real estate agents, nurses and young divorcees."

In many states, the three-day camp (which costs $750) certifies participants for a conceal-carry permit.

Last month, Babes with Bullets held two camps for female oil workers and residents in Minot, N.D., a small town that's seen a surge in its population because of the oil boom. Ferns said 24 women attended the camps.

"When you get a lot of oil money to a tiny town and the population explodes, it also brings with it a sudden increase in crime," said Ferns.

Wilson-Cohen has also seen a huge spike in demand since launching She Can Shoot in 2010.

"I advertised it on social media. Within 24 hours I had 99 inquiries," said Wilson-Cohen, who had spent 22 years in law enforcement. In just four years, her business has ballooned into a franchise in 12 states with 4,000 alumni.

She estimates a 20% increase last year in the number of women who trained with her group.

"More women are financially independent now and they're staying single longer," said Cohen-Wilson. "They're not relying on a man in the house for protection."

First Published: April 24, 2014: 6:02 AM ET

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Stocks: Can Apple lift the market?

Click for more market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all bouncing around zero gains for the day.

'Apple bounce'

Stocks opened higher as investors cheered strong quarterly earnings from Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) and Facebook (FB, Fortune 500). But the early advance faded as so-called momentum stocks, which have been volatile recently, came under pressure. Biotechnology firms and some cloud computing companies were among the hardest hit.

Apple shares rallied after the company said late Wednesday that it was expanding its stock buyback program and increasing its dividend, while reporting quarterly results that beat expectations.

The iPhone maker also revealed a seven-to-one stock split, which will make it easier for individual investors to buy a slice of the tech giant. A single share in Apple currently costs over $500.

Facebook also beat expectations, helped by strong mobile advertising numbers.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500), Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) and Baidu (BIDU) are slated to report after the market closes.

Related: CNNMoney's Tech 30

Investors look beyond tech

Thursday is a busy day for earnings reports as well. General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) reported a $1.3 billion charge relating to a massive recall involving faulty ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths. But excluding that charge and other one-time items, GM's earnings easily topped forecasts.

Caterpillar (CAT, Fortune 500)reported earnings that topped analysts' expectations and issued an upbeat outlook. UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) blamed the snowy weather for weak first quarter results even though people have been sending more packages, especially e-commerce sites.

Related: Fear & Greed Index still shows fear

Shares of AstraZenec (AZN)gained after the firm reported better-than-expected earnings. AstraZeneca was in the spotlight earlier this week after it was reported that Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) had considered buying the company for £60 billion ($100 billion). Some think an offer may yet come.

Meanwhile, in Paris, Alstom (ALSMY) shares surged by roughly 12% Thursday following a Bloomberg report that General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) may make a multi-billion dollar bid for the company. The French maker of turbines and trains said it was "not informed" of a takeover offer.

On the economic front, initial claims for unemployment benefits rose in the past week. But a report on new orders for long-lasting goods in March came in better than expected.

European markets were all pushing higher in morning trading, while Asian markets ended with mixed results.

First Published: April 24, 2014: 9:56 AM ET

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Female gun instructors in hot demand

Deb Ferns, Lisa Munson and Kay Miculek, co-founders of Babes with Bullets.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The market for female gun instructors is booming as more women want to learn to shoot -- both for self defense and for sport, said Tina Wilson-Cohen, who owns She Can Shoot, an all-women firearm and self-defense training business in Fairfax, Va.

"When I started training women in 2007, there weren't many female instructors," she said. "Now you're not the only name in town."

The National Rifle Association, noting the burgeoning market opportunity, is trying to boost its ranks of 8,000 NRA-certified female instructors, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

In 2009, the NRA organized 280 "Women On Target" training clinics nationwide, and 8,000 women signed up. In 2013, the group held 450 clinics for 12,000 women.

While Arulanandam said self protection is still the primary reason women take up gun training, he said they're increasingly realizing "that they'd like to pursue it for activities like target shooting or skeet shooting."

Related: For the gun industry, women are next big thing

Alecs Dean offers several NRA-certified courses at his range in Fort Myers, Fla. In the last two years, two-thirds of his clients have been women compared to just a third five years ago.

Since 2012, Dean has offered a 50% discount to women who enroll in his instructor training course.

"We need more women instructors," said Dean. "They bring a perspective that men don't have when it comes to their self defense. It could be something simple like knowing which side a woman typically carries her purse."

And the perspective is appreciated by his male students as well -- many even prefer a female instructor.

But many of the female-oriented shooting groups use a women-training-women model.

"There's no ego involved," said Deb Ferns, a co-founder of Babes with Bullets. "Women instructors demystify the language, they're more patient and more nurturing."

The company, which offers training camps across the country, was started in 2004, but its popularity has recently exploded, said Ferns.

"Since 2011, we started getting so many inquiries that we had to hire someone just to keep up with the demand," she said.

While she's now a competitive shooter, Ferns, 59, didn't pick up a gun until she was 45 and her daughters left for college.

"I wanted to take up something that my husband and I could do together," she said. "I wanted ballroom dancing, he wanted shooting sports."

Now, Babes with Bullets conducts 24 camps a year (a mix of three-day intensives and one-day sessions), and has over 4,000 alumni ranging from 24 to 74 years old. "80% of them have never touched a gun," said Ferns. "They're professional women, real estate agents, nurses and young divorcees."

In many states, the three-day camp (which costs $750) certifies participants for a conceal-carry permit.

Last month, Babes with Bullets held two camps for female oil workers and residents in Minot, N.D., a small town that's seen a surge in its population because of the oil boom. Ferns said 24 women attended the camps.

"When you get a lot of oil money to a tiny town and the population explodes, it also brings with it a sudden increase in crime," said Ferns.

Wilson-Cohen has also seen a huge spike in demand since launching She Can Shoot in 2010.

"I advertised it on social media. Within 24 hours I had 99 inquiries," said Wilson-Cohen, who had spent 22 years in law enforcement. In just four years, her business has ballooned into a franchise in 12 states with 4,000 alumni.

She estimates a 20% increase last year in the number of women who trained with her group.

"More women are financially independent now and they're staying single longer," said Cohen-Wilson. "They're not relying on a man in the house for protection."

First Published: April 24, 2014: 6:02 AM ET

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