- Mary Barra sold shares and money options accrued between 2011 and 2024.
- According to GM, 92% of Barra’s pay is contingent on company performance.
- GM’s board recently agreed to increase Barra’s base compensation by 7.7%.
It pays handsomely to be the chief executive of one of the world’s largest car manufacturers. It’s been revealed that in August, GM CEO Mary Barra sold about 40 percent of her personal stock and options in the company, valued at around $35.4 million. Keep in mind, Barra also earned approximately $29.5 million in total compensation last year.
The sales included a mix of shares and stock options. Barra unloaded 297,000 shares at an average price of $58.24, equating to approximately $17.3 million. She then exercised and sold 235,000 stock options at a strike price of $39, netting around $4.5 million. Another 375,024 options were exercised at $35.49 per share, totaling $8.5 million. In addition, she sold 87,839 shares from an annuity trust at $58.13, bringing in about $5.1 million.
Read: Mary Barra Was Paid 310 Times More Than The Average GM Worker And Still Got A Raise
A filing made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed the stock options came from Barra’s compensation in early 2020, in addition to stock she has accrued between 2011 and 2024.
Safeguards on Stock Sales
Importantly, Barra herself didn’t manually sell all these shares and money options. Instead, GM uses an algorithm that automatically sells the shares of certain executives when they hit a predetermined price. The idea is to prevent accusations of insider trading if executives are in possession of information not yet made public, according to The Detroit Free Press.
GM spokesman Jim Cain said that most of Barra’s compensation is linked to the company’s results. About 92 percent of her pay depends on performance and measurable targets, while in 2024 alone, stock and performance-based awards accounted for 76 percent of her total package. Her base salary has remained steady at $2.1 million since 2017.
Barra’s compensation will soon rise. In June, GM’s board agreed to increase her short and long-term compensation by 7.7 percent, “commensurate with our strategy to reward and motivate performance and to offer market-competitive compensation.”
