General Motors Co's bid to find an outsider to replace its chief financial officer is being complicated by pay restrictions imposed on companies that got big U.S. government bailouts, The Wall Street Journal said on Saturday.

GM executives met recently with U.S. Treasury pay czar Kenneth Feinberg and left with the understanding the automaker would be able to offer a significant amount of stock but no more than a $1 million annual salary, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Sources have told Reuters that GM directors in September backed a plan for CFO Ray Young to leave the company.

GM emerged from bankruptcy in July after receiving $50 billion in emergency U.S. financing.

A spokesman for GM would not comment on whether the CFO search specifically was being hindered by the pay restrictions.

We've consistently said that one challenge to filling any position from outside might be the pay restrictions, GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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