General Motors gave chief executive Dan Akerson an US$11.1m pay package last year, a GM official familiar with the matter said, after the CEO’s salary came under scrutiny earlier this week.
The figure reflects $2m in restricted stock units that Akerson received in 2011 but only vested in 2012, according to the GM official, who requested anonymity when talking to Reuters.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Akerson’s compensation last year also included $1.7m in cash, $7.3m in stock and other incentives.
Several media outlets reported late on Monday that GM had asked US officials to allow for a pay increase of more than 20% for Akerson in 2013.
Compensation of GM executives is governed by a special paymaster from the US government as part of provisions put in place after GM’s US-funded bankruptcy restructuring in 2009.
GM issued a statement on Tuesday denying the request for the 2013 pay bump. The automaker said its compensation request was misinterpreted for political gain before a congressional hearing Tuesday on executive pay at companies that received federal bailouts.
The $11.1m figure was included in GM’s compensation request but it referred to Akerson’s 2012 pay package and was not a request for 2013, the GM official said.
The automaker has set a $9m target for Akerson’s compensation. In 2011, Akerson’s pay came to $7.7m, including $1.7m cash and $5.3m in stock.
GM has repaid about $29bn of the $50bn that the US government poured into GM to keep the automaker afloat in 2009. In December, the treasury said it would sell 200m shares back to GM for $5.5bn and sell its remaining holdings.
After the $5.5bn buy back, the US Treasury’s holding in GM was whittled down to 19%.
