According to analysts talking for Autonews, the move is likely to indicate GM is to make an initial public offering (IPO) soon, even if the carmaker has not announced nothing official yet.
“This is probably 100 percent related to their run up to an IPO,” Joe Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting told the source. “It's probably one more step in preparation to go public.”
The executives to receive stock include Mark Reuss (NA president) - 25,104 shares, Tom Stephens (Product Development vice chairman) - 50,521 share, Chris Liddell (CFO) - 15,979 shares, Stephen Girsky (Corporate Strategy vice chairman) - 18,063 shares, Nick Reilly (GM Europe president) and, of course, Ed Whitacre (CEO). Whitacre will receive, for instance, $7.3 million in stock, aside for the $1.7 million salary (24,547 shares).
"GM's executives' total compensation is heavily weighted on the performance of the company," spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem said in a statement, cited by The Associated Press.
Last year, GM received $52 billion from the US government to survive the bankruptcy process. Out of that amount, $45.3 billion was converted into equity as the government got 61 percent of the car manufacturer.
In April 2010, GM repaid the remaining $5.8 billion to the U.S. Treasury and Export Development Canada. GM used escrowed cash for the payment, meaning it used the government's own money, after determining the cash wasn't needed for “extraordinary” expenses.
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