Wagoner’s retirement package pushes $20 million

Ousted GM CEO Rick Wagoner is set to receive a retirement package from his former company that totals over $20 million.

Companies that have received federal bailouts cannot pay severance packages to employees, but they can honor retirement benefits. ABC News reports:

Upon his departure, Wagoner becomes eligible for both a “Salaried Retirement Plan” and an “Executive Retirement Plan” with General Motors. The combined value of the plans at the end of last year was $20.2 million, according to the company’s filings with the SEC, although compensation experts said his age — 56 — may make him ineligible for the entire amount.

“Most of that will be paid out as an annuity over five years, the remainder is a small lifetime annuity,” GM spokeswoman Julie M. Gibson said in an email earlier today. But in a subsequent “clarification” email after this story published, Gibson said that the terms of Wagoner’s final compensation were not yet hammered out. “Specifics on any compensation entitled to, or actually paid to Mr. Wagoner are still being reviewed,” she wrote.