Pay Limited for GMAC Executives

GMAC Inc., which lost $10.4 billion last year, will pay its chief executive $9 million in all-stock compensation this year and limit the pay of its top 25 executives to no more than $500,000 in cash, The Detroit News reported.

GMAC CEO Michael Carpenter will not able to cash in the $9 million in stock until the company repays its government loans.

GMAC has received $17.2 billion in government support and the U.S. Treasury owns a 56 percent stake in the company.

Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury Department's special master for compensation, has been working to approve the pay packages for the top 25 executives at companies that have received exceptional government assistance: GMAC, General Motors Co., Chrysler Group LLC, Chrysler Financial LLC and AIG Corp.

Meg Reilly, a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, said Feinberg "worked with (GMAC) to determine a pay package that strikes the right balance between the need to protect taxpayer investments and reward performance."

Carpenter, a GMAC board member, became CEO in November, and earned $802,000 in 2009 with $119,000 in cash.

Feinberg last month approved a $9 million compensation package for GM CEO Edward Whitacre Jr.

GMAC saw some pay proposals rejected by Feinberg in 2009.

GMAC's salaries fell by 50 percent, and total compensation by 86 percent. At GMAC, 85 percent of compensation was in stock and 15 percent in cash for the top 25 executives last year.

Just two of the top 25 made more than $500,000 in cash in 2009, a spokeswoman told The Detroit News.