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GM Pays Ex-CEO $8.6 Million

Flickr / Franco Folini

Rick Wagoner’s retirement package may barely keep his Hummer in gas, but it’s a pretty sweet deal for the guy who drove what used to be the world’s biggest company off a cliff.

What exactly does an executive have to do to not get a golden parachute? Former GM CEO Rick Wagoner ran the company into the ground, and will now retire with $8.6 million for his trouble. That figure was negotiated down from the $23 million the old pre-bankrupt GM would have had to pay Wagoner. Sorry Rick, but it’s a rough economy.

Reuters:

The value of Wagoner’s retirement package is about 60 percent lower than it would have been at the end of last year, before the largest U.S. automaker fell into a government-funded bankruptcy and its assets were sold to a new GM, federal regulatory filings show.

The former top GM executive reached a retirement agreement with the old GM, now renamed Motors Liquidation Co, on July 8 and will retire officially from the new GM taking benefit cuts consistent with other retirees, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

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By maxketter@yahoo.com, July 15 at 3:31 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

last year the fed gov’t paid out $1.5 BILLION in bonuses to our Civil Servants who on average make $118K a year.
Where is the outrage over this monstrosity

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By Old Dude, July 15 at 10:49 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

What if all these overpaid clowns that are sucking blood out of the taxpayers ended up in a modest 2 bedroom condo scratching out a retirement, while mulling their not so hot health care options?
Why should these guys get a golden parachute on the backs of the people they just trashed?

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By Inherit The Wind, July 15 at 8:10 am #

I know it sounds crazy but that’s actually pretty good for GM and for the stock-holders. A seven-figure G-P for major corp CEO’s G-P is a super-slap in the face—and a HUGE savings. Remember what Michael Eisner got for sinking Disney as HIS G-P? It was NINE figures—something between $100 and $200 million! That was a bit high but mid to upper 8 figures was the norm for these guys.

Sure, $8 million is a lot—and I’d like to have it. But you cannot live the super-extravagant life-style on that. After all, the gauge for being wealthy has a minimum threshold of $10 million in assets.

Do I feel SORRY for Wagoner? NFW! But Roger Smith made out like a bandit, setting himself and his family up for generations, and for what? Continuing GM’s progress at REFUSING to recognize the automotive trends from Europe and Asia!

Still, from a reality and real politik POV, it’s a Pyrrhic victory that Wagoner is getting 7 figures and not 8 or even 9.

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