Mary Barra Was Paid 310 Times More Than The Average GM Worker And Still Got A Raise

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In contrast to 2023, when her compensation was down 4%, last year Barra met her performance targets and received a raise

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• GM’s Mary Barra earned $29.5 million in 2024 after hitting performance targets.
• Ford group’s CEO Jim Farley received less pay due to falling short on quality goals.
• Stellantis’ Carlos Tavares resigned in 2024 but still received $24 million compensation.

In Margin Call, a 2011 film loosely inspired by the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis (and absolutely worth watching if you haven’t), Jeremy Irons’ character delivers a memorable line to his boardroom: “There are three ways to make money in business: be first, be smarter, or cheat.”

GM CEO Mary Barra didn’t get to where she is by cutting corners. As the first woman to lead a Detroit Big Three automaker, her rise wasn’t about breaking glass ceilings for the sake of optics, it was about results. No accusations of cheating here, and she’s clearly not just riding a wave of luck. So by process of elimination, let’s just say she’s the smarter one.

More: Mary Barra Says GM Is “Goal-Aligned” With Trump Despite Looming Tariff Nightmare

Well, she certainly did something right last year to be paid $29.5 million, a 6% increase compared to 2023. According to Indeed, the estimated median employee pay at GM was $95,111 in the same year, meaning Barra earned roughly 310 times more than the average worker.

The number was divulged in GM’s annual executive compensation report that was filed to the SEC last Friday, which states that Barra received a raise because she met many performance targets and helped the company achieve record profits.

Barra’s performance indeed improved and, thus, so did her compensation, which put her at the top of Detroit’s Big Three list as the highest paid chief executive officer. According to a Detroit Free Press report, in 2023 that number fell by 4% to a measly $27.8 million compared to the previous year because GM did not meet shareholder value targets.

Breaking Down the Numbers

The 63-year-old’s compensation is reportedly broken down in four categories: $2.1 million in salary, which hasn’t changed since 2017, $19.5 million in stock awards from record financial gains in 2024, $6.6 million in incentive plan compensation, and $1.2 million in other payments including benefits, savings plans and insurance, and medical or company vehicles.

GM Compensation Committee Chair Wesley Bush explained in a letter to shareholders that the company’s payment program contributed significantly in GM’s record profits: “Disciplined execution in our core internal combustion engine business while demonstrating that the strategic investments we made in electric vehicles and our software capabilities are paying off,” he wrote. “Investors have taken notice of our recent performance, driving our stock price up 50% in 2024, outperforming our peers.”

More: GM Just Blinked After Trump’s Tariff War Escalated

Even so, Bush warned shareholders that there’s absolutely no room for complacency going forward.

“While we’ve had a great year at General Motors, we’d like to echo something our chair and CEO, Mary Barra, often reminds her team: ‘Don’t mistake progress for winning,’ ” he added. “Your Compensation Committee recognizes there is more work to do and believes that our shareholders will benefit greatly from that work.”

Other CEOs, Other Outcomes

In contrast to Barra, Ford‘s CEO Jim Farley saw his 2024 compensation reduced by 6% to $24.8 million as he failed to meet key targets, especially those related to quality improvements. That much was obvious even to the casual observer as the Blue Oval was, once again, beset by a blizzard of recalls. On the bright side, it did improve on that front from the previous three years when it topped the recall list – or, rather, Tesla and Stellantis somehow managed to perform even worse and overtake it.

You almost have to feel sorry for Farley, especially when you consider that Carlos Tavares, who resigned last December after falling wide of the mark regarding Stellantis’ goals, got paid more than $24 million.

Granted, it was a significant downgrade from 2023’s $39.5 million, or about 518 times that of the average Stellantis employee’s annual paycheck, but it was close to Farley’s compensation. Plus, it ensures that at least he won’t need food stamps until he finds another job. The group may have reported a $5.8 billion net profit in 2024, but it had a net loss of $133 million in the second half, which probably didn’t make shareholders all that happy.

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