GM makes it permanent: Whitacre is CEO
GM makes it permanent: Whitacre is CEO
Whitacre to become GM's permanent CEO
AP source says 68-year-old executive to remain at helm of automaker
The Associated Press
updated 10:15 a.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 25, 2010
DETROIT - General Motors Co. chairman and interim chief executive, Ed Whitacre Jr., will become the permanent CEO of the automaker, a person briefed on the matter said Monday.
The announcement will be made at an 11:30 a.m. Eastern (1630 GMT) news conference at GM's downtown Detroit headquarters, the person said.
The person, who asked not to be identified because the announcement had not been made, said Whitacre will say that he is taking the job for good, as well as give an update on GM's business plan.
Whitacre, 68, is a former CEO of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc.
He has been serving as interim CEO since the board ousted former CEO Fritz Henderson on Dec. 1. GM had hired a firm to conduct a global search for a successor.
Whitacre often says in a folksy Texas drawl that he knows little about cars. But he's already shaken up the company by hiring a new chief financial officer and transferring the old one to China, firing the Chevrolet and Buick-GMC brand managers, combining sales and marketing and consolidating control of GM's core North American market under one executive.
He also seems impatient to spur the plodding culture of GM, where decision by committee, an isolated upper management and fear of risk produced mediocre cars for years.
He wants to increase GM's sales and market share while shifting the company's focus to cars from trucks. And he aims to repay $8.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans by the end of June.
Although GM had hired the search firm, there were strong signs that Whitacre would take the job permanently, or at least serve as CEO until the company is on solid enough ground to sell stock to the public in an effort to repay its government loans.
GM owes the U.S. government $52 billion that it used to survive and emerge from bankruptcy protection last year.
At his first meeting with GM's top executives after being named chairman last summer, Whitacre candidly said he likes to be in charge.
"I don't know how to be a chairman and not a CEO," a person at the meeting remembers Whitacre saying.
But he also has told employees and reporters that he would rely heavily on former Wall Street analyst Stephen Girsky and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz for advice in running the company.
Whitacre was chairman and chief executive of AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. During his tenure, he led the company through several acquisitions and sales.
Whitacre also sits on the boards of Exxon Mobil Corp. and the railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35057728/ns/business-autos/
AP source says 68-year-old executive to remain at helm of automaker
The Associated Press
updated 10:15 a.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 25, 2010
DETROIT - General Motors Co. chairman and interim chief executive, Ed Whitacre Jr., will become the permanent CEO of the automaker, a person briefed on the matter said Monday.
The announcement will be made at an 11:30 a.m. Eastern (1630 GMT) news conference at GM's downtown Detroit headquarters, the person said.
The person, who asked not to be identified because the announcement had not been made, said Whitacre will say that he is taking the job for good, as well as give an update on GM's business plan.
Whitacre, 68, is a former CEO of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc.
He has been serving as interim CEO since the board ousted former CEO Fritz Henderson on Dec. 1. GM had hired a firm to conduct a global search for a successor.
Whitacre often says in a folksy Texas drawl that he knows little about cars. But he's already shaken up the company by hiring a new chief financial officer and transferring the old one to China, firing the Chevrolet and Buick-GMC brand managers, combining sales and marketing and consolidating control of GM's core North American market under one executive.
He also seems impatient to spur the plodding culture of GM, where decision by committee, an isolated upper management and fear of risk produced mediocre cars for years.
He wants to increase GM's sales and market share while shifting the company's focus to cars from trucks. And he aims to repay $8.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans by the end of June.
Although GM had hired the search firm, there were strong signs that Whitacre would take the job permanently, or at least serve as CEO until the company is on solid enough ground to sell stock to the public in an effort to repay its government loans.
GM owes the U.S. government $52 billion that it used to survive and emerge from bankruptcy protection last year.
At his first meeting with GM's top executives after being named chairman last summer, Whitacre candidly said he likes to be in charge.
"I don't know how to be a chairman and not a CEO," a person at the meeting remembers Whitacre saying.
But he also has told employees and reporters that he would rely heavily on former Wall Street analyst Stephen Girsky and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz for advice in running the company.
Whitacre was chairman and chief executive of AT&T and its predecessor companies from 1990 to 2007. During his tenure, he led the company through several acquisitions and sales.
Whitacre also sits on the boards of Exxon Mobil Corp. and the railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35057728/ns/business-autos/
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,521
Likes: 261
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Once in a while, though, some really good high-level people come along who genuinely do some good things for the company's vehicles. We saw that after 2000 at Hyundai, with Bob Lutz at GM, and, of course, with Ford today. Sadly, though, Lutz's significant vehicle improvements at GM still didn't save it from bankrupcy.
Some may argue, of course, that draconian cost-cutting is occasionally required to keep a firm from bankrupcy (a.k.a., Carlos Ghosn and Renault/Nissan). But the real answer, of course, is to KEEP firms from getting to the point in the first place where they HAVE to do El Cheapo products, like the 2001-2005 Nissans, just to stay in buisness
Last edited by mmarshall; Jan 25, 2010 at 03:19 PM.
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,521
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
GM's ownership/managemant is so widely spread, right now, between the Federal Government, President Obama, the UAW, stock/bondholders, and traditional GM management, that I'm not sure just how much influence one person is going to make, no matter what his "position".
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It is clear you have to be old and out of touch to run an American car company. He has absolutely NO VESTED INTEREST to see GM succeed. Sorry but they need some new blood in there, not the same old story, same old dance...
This is easy to predict...Whitacre gets huge package as he quits/retires/gets fired in a year or two.
He really is from SBC...not AT&T...but they bought them, came from them..long story
This is easy to predict...Whitacre gets huge package as he quits/retires/gets fired in a year or two.
He really is from SBC...not AT&T...but they bought them, came from them..long story
It is clear you have to be old and out of touch to run an American car company. He has absolutely NO VESTED INTEREST to see GM succeed. Sorry but they need some new blood in there, not the same old story, same old dance...
This is easy to predict...Whitacre gets huge package as he quits/retires/gets fired in a year or two.
This is easy to predict...Whitacre gets huge package as he quits/retires/gets fired in a year or two.
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Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,521
Likes: 261
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
It is clear you have to be old and out of touch to run an American car company. He has absolutely NO VESTED INTEREST to see GM succeed. Sorry but they need some new blood in there, not the same old story, same old dance...
This is easy to predict...Whitacre gets huge package as he quits/retires/gets fired in a year or two.
He really is from SBC...not AT&T...but they bought them, came from them..long story
This is easy to predict...Whitacre gets huge package as he quits/retires/gets fired in a year or two.
He really is from SBC...not AT&T...but they bought them, came from them..long story
Lexus Fanatic
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 94,521
Likes: 261
From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Of course, at GM, some of that went out with the buyout, reorganization, and Obama now calling some of the shots. But enough of it still remains.
Last edited by mmarshall; Jan 26, 2010 at 08:49 AM.
Well, Mike, even that is nowhere near as bad as what Kirk Kerkorian used to do. While not actually CEO, he did essentially the same thing at both GM and Chrysler. With his billions, he'd come in, and, with no real concern for the company, its employees, or its vehicles, buy up a controlling share of company stock, manipulate the stock until its share price skyrocketed, and then cash it all in and run off to the bank with even more billions. I don't like to use terms like this in public, but, IMO, he was a classic douche bag...how he stayed out of jail beats me.
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