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Stock buyback gives GM execs permission to use corporate jets again

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:28:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, GM, Earnings/Financials

General Motors executives are once again certified members of the jet set. As you may recall, one of the concessions made by automakers in accepting government assistance back in 2009 was a requirement to discontinue the use of private jets in lieu of standard commercial airline flights. The issue first reared its head after the three auto CEOs from Detroit flew in private jets to Washington to outline why the industry needed bailout money. Not so smart.

Now that The General has bought 200 million of its own shares back from the government, the private jet restriction has reportedly been lifted. The Wall Street Journal reports that General Motors has no current plans to buy or lease any private jets of its own. That doesn't mean, however, that execs will still be flying the friendly skies using mainstream commercial air travel all the time; it just means any corporate travel must be booked through a private service instead of in-house... for now.

Stock buyback gives GM execs permission to use corporate jets again originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 20 Dec 2012 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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General Motors retirees suing for lost benefits

Jeff Glucker — Fri, 13 May 2011 07:59:00 EST

Filed under: GM, Earnings/Financials

Part of the reason that General Motors survived its recent bout with bankruptcy is that it greatly reduced the amount of benefits it was paying to its retired workers. Now, more than 100 former GM executives are suing because they feel the automaker owes them dough.

General Motors has a plan administrator that examines all the claims made by the retirees. It states that all claims were reviewed and rejected in accordance with the requirements that the automaker needed to navigate through serious debt obligations and Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The retired executives disagree.

Brian Koncius, a lawyer for the former GM employees, stated that his clients believe GM is incorrectly calculating retirement benefits, and that General Motors is cutting costs the wrong way. Rather than reducing the benefit by 2/3 of the amount over $100,000, GM is simply lopping off 2/3 of the entire executive benefit. That adds up to a huge difference in benefit payouts.

General Motors retirees suing for lost benefits originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 13 May 2011 07:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Top GM execs awarded millions in stock ahead of IPO

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:28:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, GM, Earnings/Financials

It pays to be an executive for General Motors. Actually, scratch that... it will soon pay to be an executive with General Motors, assuming that the automaker's upcoming Initial Public Offering takes place according to plan. According to our friends at TheDetroitBureau.com, a dozen top officials at the company could be looking at a payday totaling as much as $13 million or more, depending on the value of GM stock after the IPO.

According to filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre, Vice Chairman Tom Stephens, Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell, Vice Chairman Chris Girsky and North American President Mark Reuss are all slated to get major stock deals.

After GM received its $50 billion bailout from the U.S. government, Kenneth Feinberg, Treasury's special master on pay, set up pay restrictions for officials at the automaker that capped salaries at specified levels, oftentimes to no more than $500,000 per year. Naturally, the stock deals awarded to the aforementioned executives after the company's expected IPO should more than help make up for any perceived monetary deficiencies.

[Source: TheDetroitBureau.com]

Report: Top GM execs awarded millions in stock ahead of IPO originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GM names Susan Docherty GM VP of International Operations, Sales and Marketing

Zach Bowman — Mon, 24 May 2010 10:19:00 EST

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, GM

Susan Docherty is continuing her tour of General Motors' vice president offices. The 47-year-old executive has spent time both as the company's vice president of U.S. marketing and the VP of U.S. sales during her career with the Detroit-based automaker, but as of June 1, 2010, Docherty will get the new title of Vice President of International Operational Sales, Marketing and Aftersales, and she'll report to Tim Lee, President of International Operations.

We knew Docherty was headed elsewhere in the company after she was replaced as the vice president of U.S. marketing by Joel Ewanick earlier this month. Shortly after her replacement was announced in early May, several observers claimed that Docherty had been given the shaft after a wave of contentious ads centering on GM repaying its federal loans hit the airwaves. Analysts felt that Docherty was unfairly receiving the brunt of the blame for the negative reception of the ads, and that was the real reason for her loss of the marketing position.

We won't hold our breath waiting for GM to respond to those charges. Either way, moving from VP of marketing to VP of international operational sales isn't exactly a fall from grace. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

[Source: General Motors]

Continue reading GM names Susan Docherty GM VP of International Operations, Sales and Marketing

GM names Susan Docherty GM VP of International Operations, Sales and Marketing originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 May 2010 10:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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