GM CEO Akerson made $7.7 million in 2011

We discussed earlier this month that the United States Treasury Department announced that General Motors CEO Dan Akerson would not be permitted to receive a pay increase for the 2012 year even though the company has been doing very well in the global market. Keep in mind, since the Federal Government still owns 31.9% of the automaker so the Treasury Department has the final say on what goes at GM. When the government made that announcement, it was unclear how much Akerson made in 2011 so we didn’t know how much he would make in 2012 but with the announcement that Mr. Akerson brought in a total of $7.7 million between his cash salary and stock options – it looks like the American public shouldn’t feel too bad for him not getting a raise in 2012.

Dan Akerson’s pay of $7.7 million for 2012 is comprised of roughly $1.7 million in base salary while the other $5.9 million + change comes in the way of company stock options. This payment is for Akerson’s work as both the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairman of General Motors for 2012. Akerson was paid $2.53 million for four months of service as CEO in 2010 (his Chairman position took place January 1st, 2011) and based on that rate; he would have made roughly $7.59 million. Based on the new filing, Akerson’s rate was pretty much the same in 2010 and 2011 – although the government speculated that his pay would be closer to the range of $9 million so it looks like he is actually making less than the feds expected.

Most American citizens won’t lose any sleep tonight knowing that Dan Akerson is only permitted to make $7.7 million in 2012 but General Motors isn’t too happy about it – stating in their filing that they are unable to properly reward their executives for their successes in the industry. Getting paid $7.7 million seems like a pretty adequate reward for a job well done but when you consider that Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally made almost $30 million in 2011 – you can see how Akerson might think that he deserves more pay. Click here for a closer look at the pay freeze applied to Dan Akerson.

However, the bottom line is that $7.7 million is still way more than most of the American people will make in a lifetime – let alone a single year. GM is technically owned by the US Government and until that ownership ends, GM execs are going to be subject to pay caps enforced by the feds. GM seems to gripe that they are unsure as to when the US Government will sell their portion of ownership but Chrysler faced the same problem and they solved the problem on their own with the help of new parent company Fiat. Chrysler is no longer subject to any ownership issues with the government and GM could solve the problem in the same way – by using some of their billions in profit to repay the government “bailout” loan. The government may not be too quick to sell their portion of ownership in GM until the stock value is closer to the amount owed by GM to the government but there is no way of telling when that might happen.

Source: Automotive News

Image courtesy of GM