CEO pay at AIG, Ally Financial and GM won’t rise
Compensation for chief executives at AIG, Ally Financial and GM — the three remaining companies in the TARP program that received what the government calls “exceptional assistance” — is being frozen at last year’s levels, the Treasury Department said.
The ruling from Patricia Geoghegan, acting special master for executive compensation under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said the mix of stock and salary compensation going to the chief executives this year might shift, but the overall value of their pay packages will not increase from what they made in 2011.
At General Motors Co., total direct compensation for the top 23 executives will decline $8.8 million, or 12%, from 2011, the Treasury Department said Friday. The highest-paid employee, identified only by a number in the report, will pull in $9 million this year through a cash-and-stock-based salary and long-term restricted stock.
At Ally Financial Inc. (formerly GMAC), overall direct compensation will fall 3.3%, or $2.6 million, while the top-paid employee will earn $9.5 million.
At American International Group Inc, direct compensation will slip 12.2%, or $14.8 million, with $10.5 million going to the top earner.
The companies are all still partly owned by the government.
Four companies that got exceptional assistance under TARP have paid off their obligations and exited the program. Bank of America, Citigroup, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial are no longer under compensation restrictions set by the Treasury Department.
AIG has paid back more than 75% of its TARP obligation, the agency said. GM has paid nearly half and Ally has returned nearly a third of funds it received under the program.
This year, 83% of the compensation given to the 25 top-paid executives at each company will be in the form of stock, which is tied to company performance, the Treasury Department said. Bonuses will be subject to claw-backs. Cash salaries were largely limited to $500,000 or less.
Overall direct compensation, according to the ruling, will be down 10%.
