FINALLY!! Waggoner OUT at GM!!!
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,794
Likes: 0
From: Lake Country, WI
FINALLY!! Waggoner OUT at GM!!!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,511338,00.html
GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20625.html
GM CEO Rick Wagoner to Step Down Immediately
DETROIT — A person with knowledge of General Motors' plans says Rick Wagoner will step down immediately as chairman and chief executive of the struggling Detroit automaker.
The person asked not to be identified because Wagoner's plans have not been formally announced.
The move comes on the eve of President Obama unveiling his plan to reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry. Obama and other administration officials have said they would demand deeper restructuring from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC before they would get any more government loans.
Both companies are living on a total of $17.4 billion in federal aid.
DETROIT — A person with knowledge of General Motors' plans says Rick Wagoner will step down immediately as chairman and chief executive of the struggling Detroit automaker.
The person asked not to be identified because Wagoner's plans have not been formally announced.
The move comes on the eve of President Obama unveiling his plan to reinvigorate the U.S. auto industry. Obama and other administration officials have said they would demand deeper restructuring from General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC before they would get any more government loans.
Both companies are living on a total of $17.4 billion in federal aid.
GM CEO resigns at Obama's behest
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20625.html
The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.
Wagoner's departure is one of the remarkable strings attached to a new aid package the administration plans to offer GM.
The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.
On Monday, President Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler.
Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.
GM and Chrysler have to prove their viability as a condition of a federal bailout released under former President George W. Bush, and both have asked the current administration for more money.
Obama said Friday in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” broadcast Sunday, that the carmakers were going to have to do more.
“There's been some serious efforts to deal with a combination of long-standing problems in the auto industry,” the president told host Bob Schieffer. “What we're trying to let them know is that we want to have a successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry. We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the other end much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is.
“And that's gonna mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved — management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers. Everybody's gonna have to come to the table and say it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road.
Schieffer followed up: “But they're not there yet.”
Obama added: “They're not there yet.”
Wagoner's departure is one of the remarkable strings attached to a new aid package the administration plans to offer GM.
The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.
On Monday, President Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler.
Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.
GM and Chrysler have to prove their viability as a condition of a federal bailout released under former President George W. Bush, and both have asked the current administration for more money.
Obama said Friday in an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation,” broadcast Sunday, that the carmakers were going to have to do more.
“There's been some serious efforts to deal with a combination of long-standing problems in the auto industry,” the president told host Bob Schieffer. “What we're trying to let them know is that we want to have a successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry. We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the other end much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is.
“And that's gonna mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved — management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers. Everybody's gonna have to come to the table and say it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road.
Schieffer followed up: “But they're not there yet.”
Obama added: “They're not there yet.”
Last edited by rdgdawg; Mar 29, 2009 at 03:05 PM.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 975
Likes: 6
From: CA
Problem is that all the top car / bank guys have so much dough, getting fired is more of a ego blow than anything else.
I'm guessing Wagoner joins a PE firm (Cerbeus) or going sailing on his yacht.
I'm guessing Wagoner joins a PE firm (Cerbeus) or going sailing on his yacht.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 22,608
Likes: 105
From: Waiting for next track day
Wagoner out on his ear !!!!
Simple math cost Wagoner his job
BY TOM WALSH • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • MARCH 30, 2009
Rick Wagoner was done in as General Motors Corp.'s head coach by a fatal combination of politics, bad breaks and ultimately, the simple math that gets most coaches fired -- his team lost more than it won in his eight years at the helm.
GM has lost $82 billion since 2004.
Its share of the U.S. car and truck market has shrunk steadily.
And ultimately, when GM's survival was on the line and the Big Banker himself, President Barack Obama, had to decide whether to keep federal loans flowing to GM, the Big Banker didn't find Wagoner's track record reassuring enough.
So Wagoner has to go.
"He's a good man and it's an unfortunate ending," said Matt Cullen, former director of GM's global real estate operations who left GM a year ago to head Rock Holdings, a unit of Dan Gilbert's mortgage and sports-related enterprises. "In the end, Rick put GM and its people ahead of himself, which is what he's always done."
Wagoner has been assailed by critics through much of his tenure at GM, and has survived repeated calls for his head from Wall Street and media pundits. He warded off a 2006 attempt by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian to push GM into an alliance with automakers Nissan and Renault. On several occasions in recent years, GM has offered journalists selective interviews with GM board members who said they still had faith in Wagoner.
But as the Tuesday deadline approached for Obama and his auto industry task force to decide whether GM and Chrysler look viable enough to merit further federal loan support, Wagoner's future began to look shakier and shakier.
Obama, in several recent interviews about the auto industry, seemed to go out of his way to point out past mistakes of GM and other Detroit-based automakers, even as he expressed a desire to keep them alive and avert bankruptcy.
In other words, he was conveying hope for GM laced with skepticism about its leadership.
The timing was terrible for Wagoner, too, thanks to the AIG debacle.
Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared to be caught somewhat flat-footed by the outpouring of outrage about the bonuses of AIG executives. So even though Wagoner was working for nothing this year, and Detroit auto industry executive pay is has been nowhere near as excessive as Wall Street's, Wagoner is partly a victim of populist rage at the CEO class.
One reason Wagoner has lasted this long in the CEO chair is that there has been no obvious successor to take his placeat the head of a complex global entity. GM has been doing many things right, from improving its product line to reducing costs, and there's no reason to believe that GM President Fritz Henderson will chart a radically different course from Wagoner's.
Wagoner himself has chafed a bit at GM's critics, at one point telling me in 2006, "We've got smart people here. We all finished at the top of our class, too."
In the end, though, it doesn't matter what grades you got or how nice a guy you've been.
When you're the leader of the team, you're judged by your victories you put on the board. GM just hasn't performed.
BY TOM WALSH • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • MARCH 30, 2009
Rick Wagoner was done in as General Motors Corp.'s head coach by a fatal combination of politics, bad breaks and ultimately, the simple math that gets most coaches fired -- his team lost more than it won in his eight years at the helm.
GM has lost $82 billion since 2004.
Its share of the U.S. car and truck market has shrunk steadily.
And ultimately, when GM's survival was on the line and the Big Banker himself, President Barack Obama, had to decide whether to keep federal loans flowing to GM, the Big Banker didn't find Wagoner's track record reassuring enough.
So Wagoner has to go.
"He's a good man and it's an unfortunate ending," said Matt Cullen, former director of GM's global real estate operations who left GM a year ago to head Rock Holdings, a unit of Dan Gilbert's mortgage and sports-related enterprises. "In the end, Rick put GM and its people ahead of himself, which is what he's always done."
Wagoner has been assailed by critics through much of his tenure at GM, and has survived repeated calls for his head from Wall Street and media pundits. He warded off a 2006 attempt by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian to push GM into an alliance with automakers Nissan and Renault. On several occasions in recent years, GM has offered journalists selective interviews with GM board members who said they still had faith in Wagoner.
But as the Tuesday deadline approached for Obama and his auto industry task force to decide whether GM and Chrysler look viable enough to merit further federal loan support, Wagoner's future began to look shakier and shakier.
Obama, in several recent interviews about the auto industry, seemed to go out of his way to point out past mistakes of GM and other Detroit-based automakers, even as he expressed a desire to keep them alive and avert bankruptcy.
In other words, he was conveying hope for GM laced with skepticism about its leadership.
The timing was terrible for Wagoner, too, thanks to the AIG debacle.
Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner appeared to be caught somewhat flat-footed by the outpouring of outrage about the bonuses of AIG executives. So even though Wagoner was working for nothing this year, and Detroit auto industry executive pay is has been nowhere near as excessive as Wall Street's, Wagoner is partly a victim of populist rage at the CEO class.
One reason Wagoner has lasted this long in the CEO chair is that there has been no obvious successor to take his placeat the head of a complex global entity. GM has been doing many things right, from improving its product line to reducing costs, and there's no reason to believe that GM President Fritz Henderson will chart a radically different course from Wagoner's.
Wagoner himself has chafed a bit at GM's critics, at one point telling me in 2006, "We've got smart people here. We all finished at the top of our class, too."
In the end, though, it doesn't matter what grades you got or how nice a guy you've been.
When you're the leader of the team, you're judged by your victories you put on the board. GM just hasn't performed.
Trending Topics
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 22,608
Likes: 105
From: Waiting for next track day
seems like the automotive CEOs are falling like dominos
It seems that not only lots of ordinary people get fired in these hard financial times but also the important employees! After Rick Wagoner , another CEO was fired, this time from Peugeot. The board of PSA Peugeot Citroen fired its Chief Executive, Mr. Christian Streiff, on Sunday and replaced him with Philippe Varin after the manufacturer posted a 343 million euro net loss.
“The board unanimously judged that the exceptional difficulties faced by the auto industry imposed a change of management,” said Chairman Thierry Peugeot. “I am convinced that under Philippe Varin’s leadership, the PSA Peugeot Citroen group will be able … to reveal all its potential,” he also added.
It seems that not only lots of ordinary people get fired in these hard financial times but also the important employees! After Rick Wagoner , another CEO was fired, this time from Peugeot. The board of PSA Peugeot Citroen fired its Chief Executive, Mr. Christian Streiff, on Sunday and replaced him with Philippe Varin after the manufacturer posted a 343 million euro net loss.
“The board unanimously judged that the exceptional difficulties faced by the auto industry imposed a change of management,” said Chairman Thierry Peugeot. “I am convinced that under Philippe Varin’s leadership, the PSA Peugeot Citroen group will be able … to reveal all its potential,” he also added.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 3,054
Likes: 3
From: Alberta
Unless you personally know him and he was an azzhat too you directly, this comment seems a little over the top and uneccessary.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,223
Likes: 221
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Sure, Wagoner has been a second-rate manager, but, at GM, with the possible exception of Bob Lutz, who hasn't? GM has had a string of mediocre-to-poor managers as long as I can remember.....back to the 1960's. The worst one I can remember, hands-down (much worse then Wagoner) was Roger Smith, back in the 1980's. He cared absolutely nothing for product quality....only profits. GM built so much junk in those days it was unbelievable.....so did Chrysler, despite Lee Iacocca's assertons to the contrary.
GM's worst sin, though, is what they did to Saturn. The way they ruined that once-marvelous division by dumping the unique, plastic-bodied cars is inexcusable....I have posted much about that in other threads. If Wagoner (and his predecessor) deserve to be tossed out for anything, it is that.
GM's worst sin, though, is what they did to Saturn. The way they ruined that once-marvelous division by dumping the unique, plastic-bodied cars is inexcusable....I have posted much about that in other threads. If Wagoner (and his predecessor) deserve to be tossed out for anything, it is that.
Last edited by mmarshall; Mar 31, 2009 at 06:27 AM.
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 2,794
Likes: 0
From: Lake Country, WI
.....GM's worst sin, though, is what they did to Saturn. The way they ruined that once-marvelous division by dumping the unique, plastic-bodied cars is inexcusable....I have posted much about that in other threads. If Wagoner (and his predecessor) deserve to be tossed out for anything, it is that.
30 years of ho-hum productivity is long enough for this fat cat. It is time for a re-organization of GM. Caddy, Buick, Chevy should be the only remaining brands under the GM umbrella.
