Akerson Gets Millions More In Cash To Grease His Exit
Companies – or so they say – pay their executives the big bucks to keep them from leaving, or, in corporate-speak to “retain” them. In the case of GM CEO Dan Akerson, they pay him more because he will leave. Nasty people will say “to make him leave.”
Claiming that its 64-year-old CEO may retire soon, GM changed Akerson’s package for 2012. Instead of a mix of “Restricted Stock Units,” (which Akerson would have to keep in the kitty for three years) and “Salary Stock Units” (which he can trade in immediately), Akerson received everything in immediately trade-inable stock, “in acknowledgement of the possibility of his retirement before the completion of the three-year vesting period for RSUs,” a filing with the SEC shows. It’s good to know that Akerson won’t have to worry about his retirement (like some Delphi managers, for instance.)
It is not immediately clear how much money Akerson really made.
Realized Annual CompensationChairman & CEO, Daniel F. Akerson20112012Annual CompensationSalary$1,700,000$1,700,000Stock AwardsSSUs$5,284,238$7,346,373RSUs Earned (1)$1,986,286—All Other Compensation$55,514$70,149Total$9,026,038$9,116,522Annualized Compensation$9,026,038$9,116,522One table makes us believe he made $9.1 million in 2012.
Name and Principal PositionYearSalaryStockOtherTotalDaniel F. Akerson (1)2012$1,700,000$9,332,659$70,149$11,102,808CEO2011$1,700,000$5,947,229$55,514$7,702,7432010$566,667$1,766,664$194,088$2,527,419Another table says Akerson made $11.1 million.
Bloomberg, which is better at deciphering these filings, is convinced that “Akerson’s compensation, which is subject to government review because of GM’s 2009 U.S. bailout, increased 44 percent to $11.1 million last year.”
At the RenCen, people claim ignorance when it comes to Akerson’s retirement plans. “We certainly wouldn’t speculate on what he will actually do — that’s up to him,” spokesman Tom Henderson told Bloomberg.
And who will be the man or woman after Akerson? According to Bloomberg, the folks in the running are Steve Girsky, Mary Barra, and TTAC commenter NADude, also known as Mark Reuss.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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@Ed Berry-So what's your point. Iacocca is more capable of running GM at 88 than Ackerson is at 64. Not that Lee would want to do it, you don't think that he could do it. Have you forgotten what he did for Chrysler, or were you not born yet or too young to remember. Maybe in your book you judge a person's competence to manage by their age, but a person can be incompetent regardless of age. Actually I think they could do better to pay a Chinese or Indian CEO a couple of 100k, they couldn't do any worse. Since GM is going to outsource jobs to China why not outsource the CEO? Most American CEOs could care less about the corporation, stockholders, customers, or workers they just want to suck as much money out of the corporation they work for (not own except the stock bonuses they get rewarded with) and if it folds they get a golden parachute. Maybe we could sell GM to the Chinese and get the rest of our money back. I was for the bailout at first but now I think with Akerson and Opel that maybe we need to rid ourselves of this mess if anyone is willing to take GM. It could be too late.
I did not know that you have to grease shit to make it exit. Cannot they just give enema?