Former GM boss gets $8.6m pension

Mr Wagoner would have got a larger pension if he had left last year

Former General Motors (GM) boss Rick Wagoner will officially retire in August with a pension worth $8.6m (£5.3m) over the first five years.

Mr Wagoner is standing down after he was ousted from the jobs of chairman and chief executive in March as part of the government rescue of GM.

If he had retired last year, he would have been entitled to a retirement package worth $23m.

Last week, GM emerged from bankruptcy protection as a smaller company.

Mr Wagoner had led GM since 2000.

In recent years he had presided over increasing losses at the firm, after it was hit by falling sales in its key home market.

In addition to being hurt by the industry-wide fall in sales, GM was hampered by an over-reliance upon large, high fuel consumption sports utility vehicles, which fell out of fashion as fuel prices rose.

Mr Wagoner's pension deal includes five initial annual lump sum payments of $1.64m, plus $74,030 each year, also starting from August.