Southfield, Michigan: General Motors Co. said it will pay former Chief Executive Officer Fritz Henderson $59,090 (Dh216,860) a month as an adviser as the man who replaced him, Chairman Ed Whitacre, urged employees to move more quickly to change the company.
Hours before Henderson's appointment Friday, Whitacre held the second internal meeting of the week at which he signalled more changes may be coming because GM's transformation since exiting bankruptcy has been too slow, two people with knowledge of the comments said.
Henderson's consulting assignment will run through year's end and entail about 20 hours of work each month, GM said in a filing. Henderson, 51, didn't receive severance when he was dismissed as CEO on December 1 after eight months. A GM spokesman, Chris Preuss, said the contract didn't amount to severance pay.
"This is an agreement to provide consulting to the company on international operations, an area where Fritz has unrivalled expertise," Preuss said. "That is the basis of this agreement."
GM said Whitacre's annual compensation will be $9 million, with a $1.7 million cash salary, $5.3 million in stock that begins paying in 2012 and $2 million in restricted stock.
Whitacre, the former AT&T Inc. CEO and chairman, came to GM in July to lead a revamped board as the biggest US automaker left a government-backed Chapter 11 restructuring. Whitacre, 68, took the CEO post the same day the board ousted Henderson, and GM said January 25 he would stay as the permanent chief.
The CEO told workers in last week's meetings that some parts of the Detroit-based company aren't adapting quickly enough, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private forums.
Whitacre is pressing to return GM to profit and change the automaker's culture to prepare for a public stock sale. GM reported a $1.15 billion third-quarter loss on November 16.
His effort includes cancelling meetings and telling executives to spend less time in such gatherings instead of getting work done, said two executives with knowledge of the CEO's strategy.
