GM's Wagoner to Get $8.2M, Plus $75K Annual Pension

Now he can fly on all the private planes he wants: Former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner will collect an $8.2 million payout package, plus a $74,000 annual pension, reports the Detroit Free Press. If he chooses, the 56-year-old Wagoner also can cash out a company life insurance policy worth $2.6 million. If this seems like a lot for the ex-chief of a bankrupt company, it may help (a little) to know that his retirement benefits were valued at $22 million only last year.

Wagoner worked for the company 32 years before the government asked him to step aside in March. He had been a vocal opponent of the bankruptcy filing. In a speech today in Michigan, President Obama once again cited "poor management" as the main reason both GM and Chrysler had to file for bankruptcy.
(More Rick Wagoner stories.)