General Motors Co. wooed new executive Sterling Anderson with a $40 million hiring package to leave his Silicon Valley autonomous vehicle startup and join the Detroit automaker in 2025, according to a financial disclosure filed Monday.

Anderson received $16 million in 2025 as the company's executive vice president, global product and chief product officer, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The rest of the $24 million will be paid out this year and next.

His new-hire package reflects the price GM is willing to pay to bring on experienced tech leaders to speed its progress on self-driving vehicles, EVs, software and other technology as it fights to compete with Chinese automakers. As a top GM executive, Anderson is among potential candidates to succeed CEO Mary Barra, who has led the Detroit automaker since 2014.

"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," according to the filing. "The Committee also sought to ensure that this package offered a competitive and attractive opportunity relative to other possible opportunities he had in the technology industry."

Anderson left self-driving commercial vehicle company Aurora Innovation Inc., which he co-founded, to join GM. He previously led Tesla Inc.'s Model X and Autopilot programs.

For comparison, Barra received nearly $30 million in 2025. Her total compensation was close to $29.5 million in 2024. President Mark Reuss brought in more than $19 million last year, also up from about $18.5 million in 2024.

Both Barra, 64, and Reuss, 62, became eligible for early retirement at the end of last year, according to the filing. GM considers normal retirement age to be 65.

Early retirement is available to GM employees hired before 1988 with 30 years of service or employees age 60 and above who have been with the company at least 10 years. Both Barra and Reuss' GM careers began in the early 1980s.

Barra is the second-longest serving GM CEO, trailing only Alfred P. Sloan, who held the role from 1923 to 1946.

Barra in January said it's up to GM's board of directors whether she will continue serving as CEO but humorously said she's "having a pretty good time (and) trying to stay in good shape."

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