GM CEO to get $9M pay package, former CEO to get $2,954.50/hour as consultant

GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz’s laments about underpaid executives have not fallen on deaf ears. Current CEO Ed Whitacre, who got $158 million when he retired from AT&T, will receive a $9 million compensation package, including $1.9 million in annual salary, retroactive to January 1, 2010.

GM’s generosity does not end there: former CEO Fritz Henderson, who was forced out last December, has been rehired as a consultant. Henderson will get $59,090 per month for about 20 hours of work. That’s $2,954.50 per hour; 105 times the hourly wage of a UAW worker or 407 times the minimum wage typically paid to part-time employees.

Federal compensation czar Ken Feinberg has indicated he will probably approve the package but could still reduce it, perhaps to the $500,00 that was supposed to be the cap for CEO compensation at companies receiving federal bailouts.

Whitacre did have to make some sacrifices. He will not receive additional compensation for his duties as chairman of GM’s board of directors. Henderson will also have to reduce his standard of living by a third, but since he only has to devote 20 hours a month to GM, he will have plenty of time to find another part-time job (greeter at Wal-Mart?) to make up the difference.

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