General Motors CEO Mary Barra Compensation Declines in 2023

General Motors announced that CEO Mary Barra’s total compensation for 2023 decreased by 4% to $27.8 million.

The company also disclosed increases in total compensation for other executives, including President Mark Reuss and CFO Paul Jacobson.

Rationale Behind Compensation Adjustments:
The compensation committee, chaired by board member Wesley Bush, highlighted GM’s strong financial performance in 2023 and its leadership in total U.S. sales.

However, underperformance in electric vehicle (EV) production and autonomous vehicle (AV) technology impacted executive compensation, reflecting the company’s commitment to aligning rewards with performance.

Performance Evaluation and Impact on Stock Price:
GM’s proxy filing noted that deviations from transformation commitments affected the company’s stock price and executive compensation.

The compensation committee emphasized the effectiveness of incentive plans in rewarding annual and long-term performance.

While GM’s executives saw compensation adjustments, other automakers, such as Stellantis, reported significant increases in CEO compensation. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares received a 56% boost in total compensation, highlighting variations in compensation practices across the industry.

Response to Union Criticism:
The United Auto Workers union criticized the compensation of executives at the Detroit Three automakers, including Mary Barra.

Following contract negotiations, the union secured pay raises and wage increases for its members, addressing concerns about executive compensation disparities. Here is a detailed summary of the compensation of Mary T. Barra (Chair & CEO of General Motors Company, GM) in 2023 — what changed, why it changed, and what it tells us about executive-pay linking to strategic performance.

✅ Key Facts & Figures

In 2023, Mary Barra’s total compensation was about US$27.8 million (≈ US$27.85 million).
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This represented a 4 % decline compared to her 2022 total compensation (≈ US$28.98 million).
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Her base salary remained unchanged at US$2.1 million – the same as in 2022.
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The decline was driven by lower incentive (“nonequity incentive plan compensation”) payouts — from ~US$6.26 million in 2022 to ~US$5.25 million in 2023.
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Stock awards and option awards (e.g., US$14.625 million in stock awards, ~US$4.875 million in option awards for 2023) stayed essentially flat versus 2022.
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🔍 What Happened & Why

The reduction in Barra’s pay was not because GM performed poorly in all respects — the company reported strong financial results, significant cash returns to shareholders, and maintained large U.S. sales volumes.
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However, the company and its Compensation Committee explicitly pointed to under-performance in transformation goals, especially in EV (electric vehicle) production and AV (autonomous vehicle) technology, as key factors that impacted the incentive element of the compensation. From the proxy letter:

“We under-performed relative to our commitments on our transformation journey in 2023, particularly with EV production and AV technology.”
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Because executive pay is heavily weighted to performance measures (especially stock-based awards and long-term incentive units), when the transformation metrics were missed or targets scaled back, the incentive payouts dropped.

For example, GM trimmed its EV production targets for 2024 (from up to 400,000 units mid-2024 to 200,000-300,000) in order to focus on profitability.
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This kind of strategic shift sent a signal that transformation progress was slower than expected, which in turn reduced the value of some performance share units and option awards.

🧮 Breakdown of Compensation Components (2023)

Based on GM’s filing:
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Base Salary: US$2,100,000

Stock Awards: US$14,625,000

Option Awards: US$4,875,013

Nonequity Incentive Plan Compensation: US$5,250,000

All Other Compensation: ~US$997,392

Total: ~US$27,847,405

Compared to 2022, the big difference was the drop in the nonequity incentive plan piece (from ~US$6.258 m to US$5.25 m) which led to the overall ~4 % drop.

📌 Implications & Significance

Pay is tightly linked to strategic metrics beyond just financials
GM acknowledged that although its core business showed strength, the transformation (EV/AV) lag meant less reward for executives. This suggests the compensation committee is using the incentive structure to specifically signal: “Transformation matters.”

The drop signals to investors and stakeholders that performance matters
By dropping Barra’s pay when transformation goals were missed, GM avoids criticism of paying top executives full bonuses when key strategic initiatives under-perform. This can help with governance optics and alignment.

It shows that even high-paid executives can face pay cuts when targets miss
For example, Barra’s base salary remains fixed, so variation in pay comes largely from performance-based components.

Comparative pay dynamics
After this reduction, Barra is no longer the highest-paid among the “Detroit Three” automakers — for 2023, the CEO of Stellantis N.V. (Carlos Tavares) earned ~€36.5 million (~US$39.5 million) for 2023.
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Wider context of CEO pay & the workforce gap
This also occurs amid broader scrutiny of executive pay and the pay ratio between CEOs and median workers. For example, women CEOs in the S&P 500 in 2023 had a median pay of US$17.6 million, and Barra’s US$27.8 million places her above that median.
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🔮 What to Watch Going Forward

2024 Compensation & Target Pay: GM’s compensation committee did not increase Barra’s target compensation for 2024.
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Impact of Transformation Metrics: As GM continues to push into EVs, AVs and software, whether the company meets those milestones will impact future pay substantially.

Shareholder & Union Reactions: The United Auto Workers (UAW) had previously criticized high executive compensation at the Detroit automakers in the context of worker pay negotiations. High CEO pay during transformation under-performance may draw further attention.
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Pay Ratio and Public Perception: Given the size of the pay relative to average worker compensation, and given the challenges in the transformation journey, GM may face pressure on executive-pay governance and public perception.

Bonus & Stock Award Structure: If GM chooses to make incentives more conservative or tie them to more concrete transformation milestones (EV units produced, software revenue, AV progress), then executive pay may become more variable or conditional in the near term.

🧷 Summary

In short: Mary Barra’s compensation in 2023 fell about 4 % to US$27.8 million because while core financial performance of GM remained solid, the company fell short on key transformation goals (especially EV/AV). Base salary and stock awards were stable, but the performance-based incentive piece declined. The change signals that GM’s board is linking pay more directly to strategic outcomes beyond just sales or profit.

If you like, I can pull up a table comparing her pay year-by-year (say 2021-2024) and also compare it to the other Big Three CEO pay packages, to give more context. Would you like that?