Compensation for General Motors Chair and CEO Mary Barra spiked about 6% last year to $29.5 million due to the company reaching several performance targets and achieving record profits, the company said in its annual executive compensation report.
In the Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, GM also noted that most other corporate officers reported modest gains, excluding incoming or outgoing employees.
Compensation for Barra, 63, is broken down into these categories: $2.1 million in salary, the same since 2017, with $19.5 million in stock awards from record financial gains in the year, $6.6 million in incentive plan compensation, and the balance of $1.2 million in other payments for items such as benefits, savings plans and insurance, medical or company vehicles.
GM Compensation Committee Chair Wesley Bush said in a letter to shareholders included in the filing that he believed the company’s payment program played a significant role in GM’s record financial performance.
“Disciplined execution in our core internal combustion engine business while demonstrating that the strategic investments we made in electric vehicles and our software capabilities are paying off,” Bush wrote. “Investors have taken notice of our recent performance, driving our stock price up 50% in 2024, outperforming our peers.”
Barra’s targets — and her compensation — improved from a year ago, putting her back in the top slot in executive compensation among the Detroit Three.
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Improvements in retail market share across the company’s powertrain vehicles allowed Barra’s stock options to rise nearly $5 million, a main driver of her compensation improvement for 2024. Total 2023 compensation fell for Barra to $27.8 million, a 4% dip compared with the year prior after GM failed to meet shareholder value targets to which part of her compensation is tied.
Yet Bush warned shareholders that positive growth does not mean employees should rest on their laurels.
“While we’ve had a great year at General Motors, we’d like to echo something our chair and CEO, Mary Barra, often reminds her team: ‘Don’t mistake progress for winning,’ ” Bush wrote. “Your Compensation Committee recognizes there is more work to do and believes that our shareholders will benefit greatly from that work.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump‘s tariff threats could still meaningfully harm company profits, and, necessarily, profit-sharing. Several auto industry analysts note that a decline is likely unavoidable in annual profit-sharing checks to UAW-represented workers and bonuses that salaried people earn.
