General Motors Co. says CEO Ed Whitacre will receive a pay package valued at $9 million this year.

Whitacre, who took over in December as interim CEO and was named to the post permanently in January, will receive a cash salary of $1.7 million, plus stock awards worth up to $7.3 million that can be sold when the automaker goes public again.

Whitacre's pay package exceeds the limits imposed on companies that have received U.S. government aid, but the company says an exemption was worked out with government pay czar Kenneth Feinberg.

GM is 60 percent owned by the federal government and has received $52 billion in federal aid.