General Motors disclosed on Monday that it offered a $40 million compensation package to recruit Sterling Anderson as its Chief Product Officer (CPO).
Anderson received $16 million in total compensation in 2025 as GM‘s Executive VP, Global Product and CPO, according to a proxy statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The remaining $24 million will be paid out this year and in 2027, provided he stays with the company and meets performance targets.
Anderson co-founded autonomous trucking company Aurora Innovation in late 2016 — where he served as CPO for nearly nine years before joining GM in June 2025.
Before then, Anderson worked at Tesla between 2014 and 2016. He led the design, development and launch of the Model X and was later appointed director of Autopilot programs.
“The Compensation Committee structured a compensation package for Mr. Anderson that it believed was necessary and appropriate to recruit him to GM from his prior company where he had an influential leadership role and a significant equity interest,” the SEC filing stated.
The committee added that the package was designed to be “competitive and attractive” relative to other opportunities Anderson had in the technology industry.
Role at GM
Anderson began working for GM in mid last year as the company’s Chief Product Officer.
His base salary was $583,333 for the year — reflective of a partial-year start — with the remainder of his $16 million in 2025 compensation coming from stock and cash awards.
He now oversees the majority of GM‘s software and services engineering team, a restructuring that the company said last October would better align those departments with product development.
His expanded responsibilities came amid the departure of several other GM executives based in Silicon Valley last November.
Former Apple executive Dave Richardson, Senior VP of Software and Services Product management BariÅŸ Cetinok, and GM‘s first-ever Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer Barak Turovsky all exited the company during the same period.
Anderson is among potential candidates to succeed CEO Mary Barra, according to media reports cited by The Detroit News.
Remaining Amount
Anderson’s remaining $24 million in potential awards is tied to several targets.
He could receive $10 million in restricted share units — stock that vests over time — dispensed in two portions: $5 million by July 29, 2026, and another $5 million by July 29, 2027, conditional on his continued employment with the company.
Anderson is also eligible for $11 million in performance share units — stock that vests only when specific metrics are met — set to vest on Feb. 6, 2027, if he meets his targets.
After the deal’s terms conclude on July 29, 2027, Anderson will receive regular compensation more in line with other GM executives, the company said.
“The committee believes this is an important investment in GM‘s competitiveness and ability to continue creating superior, technology-forward vehicles and to advancing our strategy to generate long-term growth and returns for shareholders,” GM said in the filing.
CEO Compensation
GM‘s proxy filing also revealed that CEO Mary Barra’s 2025 compensation totaled $29,895,868 — the highest in her tenure — up 1.3% from $29,496,637 in 2024.
Barra’s pay is broken down into $2.1 million in base salary — which she has received annually since 2017 — $21.6 million in stock awards, $4.96 million in incentive plan compensation, and $1.2 million in other payments covering benefits, savings plans, insurance and company vehicles.
Barra has led GM since January 2014 and is the second-longest serving CEO in the company’s history, trailing only Alfred P. Sloan, who held the role from 1923 to 1946.
Both Barra and President Mark Reuss became eligible for early retirement at the end of last year, according to the filing.
The two executives’ GM careers began in the early 1980s, and each qualifies for early retirement under the company’s policy for employees aged 60 and above with at least 10 years of service.
The Detroit automaker considers its normal retirement age to be 65.
In January, Barra said it is up to GM‘s board of directors whether she will continue serving as CEO.
Compensation Committee Chair Devin Wenig said in a letter to shareholders included in the filing that GM exceeded performance targets in 2025 and approved an 8.1% increase in Barra’s long-term compensation opportunities.
The adjustment was made entirely in long-term equity.
Detroit Automakers
President Mark Reuss received $19.3 million in 2025, up 4.6% from the prior year, while CFO Paul Jacobson earned $13.8 million, up 5.5%.
GM is the last of the Detroit Three to file its annual proxy report.
Ford Motor Co.‘s CEO Jim Farley received $27,519,558 in total compensation for 2025, up 11% and his highest since becoming CEO in late 2020.
Stellantis paid CEO Antonio Filosa about $6.3 million for six months of work after he took over the role in June.
GM x Tesla
Anderson is now the second former Tesla executive in GM‘s senior leadership circle, alongside Jon McNeill, who has served on the board since 2022.
His hiring package — larger than Barra’s annual compensation — reflects the premium GM is willing to pay to close the software and autonomous driving gap with Tesla.
The Elon Musk-led company remains the dominant EV seller in the United States with a 54% market share in the first quarter of 2026, according to Cox Automotive.
Barra herself set the competitive tone in 2021, when she told CNBC she was “absolutely” convinced GM would surpass Tesla in US EV market share by 2025.
That target was not met — Tesla‘s share remained at least three times larger than GM‘s combined brands throughout the year — but the company still finished 2025 as the second-largest EV seller in the country, with a 48% year-over-year increase in electric vehicle registrations.
GM’s EV Business
The executive compensation disclosures come as legacy automakers in the US navigate a turbulent period within their EV businesses.
GM recorded $7.6 billion in impairment charges tied to changes in its EV production plans last year, after the termination of the $7,500 federal consumer tax credit in September and the relaxation of federal emissions standards.
The company’s EV sales declined 43% in the fourth quarter of 2025 after reaching a record high in the third quarter, when buyers rushed to lock in the federal credit ahead of its expiration.
EVs represented approximately 6% of GM‘s total 2.85 million vehicles sold in 2025.
Barra told reporters in January that GM‘s “destination is to get to the all-EV future,” citing the benefits of instant torque, new design possibilities and the elimination of gas station visits as long-term drivers of adoption.
She added that 80% of EV owners are likely to buy another electric vehicle.
GM board member and former Tesla President Jon McNeill said last month that the company “is in a pretty good position, because they designed EVs from the ground up that are pretty compelling cars.”
The executive was drawing a contrast with Ford and Stellantis, which he said adapted combustion platforms for electric drivetrains rather than building purpose-built vehicles.
The company’s CFO said in March that GM is working to settle approximately $4.2 billion in EV restructuring costs by the end of the second quarter of 2026, describing the process as involving negotiations with hundreds of suppliers.
Anderson’s recruitment, against this backdrop, signals that GM is betting on technology leadership — not just volume — to find its footing in an EV market.
