Former General Motors CEO nets multimillion-dollar retirement package

Former General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner will officially punch out on Aug. 1 with a compensation package worth almost $8.6 million over the first five years.

The deal is significantly lower than what he could have received; it would have been $23 million at the end of last year, Reuters reports.

Wagoner, a GM lifer, rose from a position in the company's treasury office in New York to chairman and CEO of what formerly was the world's largest automaker. He was forced out of the top spot in March by the Obama administration after federal officials thought GM's restructuring plan was not proceeding fast enough.

Wagoner was an adamant opponent of filing for bankruptcy, a move the company ultimately was forced to make on June 1. His retirement package was officially reached with the “Old GM,” called Motors Liquidation Co., the entity still under court supervision that is disposing of unwanted assets.

GM emerged from bankruptcy last week under a 363 sale that allowed the company to sell its best assets to a new firm owned mostly by the government.

By Greg Migliore