Wagoner retirement package worth $20.2 million
Now that Rick Wagoner is out of a job, he's eligible to start receiving retirement benefits from his former employer of 32 years. Though having received over $63 million in salary since becoming a General Motors executive in 1992, Wagoner is eligible for a "Salaried Retirement Plan" and "Executive Retirment Plan" that are together valued at $20.2 million.
With all the rage directed towards executives in the banking industry who recently received tens of millions of dollars in bonus money, we're sure there'll be similar outrage expressed over an auto exec receiving a $20M+ retirement package after leaving his company propped up by federal aid on the brink of bankruptcy.
There are differences to note, however, as the money Wagoner will receive is neither bonus money nor a "golden parachute" severance package. GM is not allowed to pay executives severance money under the conditions to which it agreed when the automaker began accepting federal aid last December. Wagoner's retirement plan reportedly doesn't count as severance, and therefore he is legally permitted to receive it.
We wonder, however, if public opinion might influence Wagoner's decision to accept the retirement package. Some banking executives have chosen to voluntarily give back the bonus money that they are legally, though perhaps not morally, entitled to receive. Wagoner could do the same, we suppose, if he believed it would benefit GM. After being asked by the president to leave his job at GM, though, who knows if he cares?
[Source: ABC News, Photo by EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Mr.Oak 3:10PM (3/30/2009)
Hell, he shouldn't have been fired, they could have doubled his pay to $2.00 per year, and make him the head groundskeeper.
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Mazda FTW! 3:13PM (3/30/2009)
That's already been out-sourced to Groundskeeper Willie
Todd 3:32PM (3/30/2009)
No, let him have that $20,000,000.00 - it adds to his shame.
In fact let him keep the Gulfstream jet too, anything else he wants. It'll all be printed in future MBA grad school text books.
100 years from now, college kids will still be reading what he did, how his actions obliterated the mighty GM out of existence. It's quite possible is last name will become a negative connotation verb for all time...
"...Man, you really pulled a Wagoner with your company." - businessman in the year 2050
AZZO45b 4:41PM (3/30/2009)
I just saw a CNN clip of Rickie telling Wolf Blitzer in a December 2008 interview that he (1) served @ the will of the GM Board of D's... & (2) He DID NOT have any "Golden Parachute". (complete BS, but he chose to say it publicly)
I'm sure CNN has this video archived or a part of Wolf's program.
Free Market & Capitalists spare me your defense of Wagner in advance. This man ran GM for a long stretch & has pulled down MILLIONS. He should WALK AWAY & help support his now former company RECOVER.
Be a man of his word & walk away WITHOUT a Golden Parachute he told the public he DID NOT have in place. If its a contract obligation... take the check & immediately put it in an envelope & RETURN it to his former employer.
Judy Zik 8:22PM (3/30/2009)
He should be forced to take every penny of it in GM stock that can't be sold for 2 years. That way he can suffer along with the rest of the shareholders. But then I think all executives should be forced to take their pay in company stock. That way they get paid or not based on the job they do.
This man drove the world's largest car company into the ground and lacked the grace to know when to step aside on his own. I can't imagine a more dishonourable end than having the President of The United States tell you it's time to go. This will be one for the text books.
Unfortunately I think the changing of the guard comes too late for GM. 60 days is not enough time to change a corporate culture that is so out of touch and has been so decimated by cuts. Whatever survives of GM when the dust settles will be a far cry from the giant we have had a love/hate relationship with all these years.
James 3:11PM (3/30/2009)
The "bailout" never ends....
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AMcA 7:39PM (3/30/2009)
Actually, he'll probably not see more than pennies on the dollar.
WHEN the company files Chapter 11, his claim for $20M will be just another unsecured claim against the company. If the widget makers get 20 cents on the dollar for what they're owed, most likely, so will Rick.
And if GM doesn't file . . . well, think of those nice fellows at AIG and the warm reception they got. The White House won't let that happen again.
Fernando 8:22AM (3/31/2009)
It's a retirement package. It's probably to be paid to him over the next 20 years, not all at once.
He worked at the company for 32 years, don't you think he deserves a pension, just like every other employee that leaves the company after 30-some years?
wolverinejoe80 3:14PM (3/30/2009)
screw duke
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Sea Urchin 3:23PM (3/30/2009)
Duke? That was undergrad, Wagoner bills himself as a Harvard man.
wolverinejoe80 3:30PM (3/30/2009)
screw harvard. harvard men ruins country.
AZZO45b 5:06PM (3/30/2009)
The ZR1 was code named "Blue Devil" because of Rick's pride in his Dukies
Taglane 3:16PM (3/30/2009)
For almost a decade, Wagoner has run that company...... straight into the ground.
We need Lutzimus Prime back. He knows what the market wants. Basically every car he help put out was a best seller.
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hyundaifans.com 11:47PM (3/30/2009)
Maximum Bob?? No thanks.......
geo.stewart 3:16PM (3/30/2009)
so, that is a 20M retirement package, its not a 1 time bonus or golden parachute.
not nearly the same.
though that is a sweet deal. 625/yr for each of 32 yrs of service if he gets all of it.
in light of the wall street shenanigans, this is all just misplaced frustration.
the deltas in the numbers are just ridiculoous. the amount of meddling going on over 60billion for the auto industry vs the hands off approach of 1 trillion for the banking industry is ridiculous.
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Sektor 3:20PM (3/30/2009)
That's because the banks are much more likely going to pay everything back than the auto industry.
TIM 3:27PM (3/30/2009)
Rick will be glad that he still has 2 supporters. You and his wife.
geo.stewart 3:57PM (3/30/2009)
TIM,
I'm not a fan of Wagoner, just have a hard time with Government dictating Wagoner has to go but not the top crooks at AIG, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo.
have a harder time with the government taking my money and buying into businesses at all, much less majority shareholders. give me a tax break of 20K and let me pay down my mortgage (pumping money into the banking institutions to ease credit burden), invest in the stock market (driving the DOW and NASDAQ up), or buy more crap (helping feed the economy at job level).
and I dont think Wagoner did a great, or even passable job but his 20M for 30 yrs of service is a lot less less than other pkgs for a lot less time that we've seen recently.
Sean 4:10PM (3/30/2009)
I'm not a huge fan of this, but in all seriousness, $20m is not a huge amount for someone in his position in a company of that size. Hell, Nardelli got two HUNDRED million dollars in severance from home depot.
Polly Prissy Pants 4:34PM (3/30/2009)
"that is a 20M retirement package, its not a 1 time bonus or golden parachute. "
True, but you're still paying for someome who has not come anywhere close to performing. Every time some corporate cheerleader starts in with that "you have to pay for top performers" and all that other bullsauce justifying multi-million dollar executive compensation packages we'll always have Wagoner. Show me how he earned this money. Better yet, explain to me how he can even sleep at night accepting that ill-gotten money. Shameful.