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Rick Wagoner Chief Executive Officer General Motors Corp.: a too much obsession

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:August 7, 2008

The foremost thing that I would like to say is that GM is motionless a great company and I accept as accurate it will be even greater again in the not to distant future, BUT it needs to get exonerate of the bean counter frame of mind and lead in the market, not follow.

I think their is too much obsession , as George M.C. Fisher, head of GM’s directors and corporate governance committee, said today that chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner had the “unanimous” and “unified” support of the board.

Here are some facts:

Wagoner took over as chief exec on June 1, 2000. GM share price that day: $69.81

Wagoner became chairman on May 1, 2003. GM share price that day: $35.74

Today, GM shares closed at $10.25, up from a five-decade low of $9.38 on July 14.

Last month, GM canceled its 25 cents per share quarterly dividend.

GM’s market cap now stands at $5.8 billion, about $200 million below GameStop Corp., as pointed out here, and only slightly less than the phantom valuation for Facebook, which is “worth” $5 billion, according to latest estimates.

Last week, GM reported a $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter, or $27.33 per share.

Revenue for the period was $38.2 billion, an 18% slide.

GM lost $3.3 billion in the first quarter.

GM hasn’t had a profitable year since 2004, when it earned $2.8 billion. In the last three full years, it’s lost around $50 billion total.

GM market share in the U.S. is down to 21.2% through July. In 2003, Wagoner’s first year as chairman, it was 28%.

Light trucks and SUVs made up 61% of the vehicles GM sold through the first seven months of this year. That category is off 23% for GM and 19% industrywide.

But the question is, with the kind of record GM has displayed over the past eight years, who, if anybody, will be held accountable?

One more list to consider — GM’s board of directors:

Percy N. Barnevik, retired chairman of pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca PLC
Erskine B. Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina
John H. Bryan, retired chairman and CEO of Sara Lee Corp.
Armando M. Codina, president and CEO, Flagler Development Group
Erroll B. Davis, Jr., chancellor, University System of Georgia
George M.C. Fisher, retired chairman and CEO, Eastman Kodak Co.
Karen Katen, chairman Pfizer Foundation, retired vice chairman Pfizer Inc.
Kent Kresa, chairman emeritus, Northrop Grumman Corp.
Ellen J. Kullman, exec. VP, DuPont
Philip A. Laskawy, retired chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young
Kathryn V. Marinello, chairman and CEO, Ceridian Corp.
Eckard Pfeiffer, retired president and CEO, Compaq Computer Corp.

and, of course,

G. Richard Wagoner, chairman and CEO, GM

General Motors Corp.’s lead independent director on Wednesday defended the board’s performance in the wake of the company’s $15.5 billion second-quarter loss, saying it is “informed and very involved” in the auto maker’s efforts to stem losses and turn around its North American operations.

“This is not just a passive board sitting by,” the director, George Fisher, said in a telephone interview. “It is a very experienced group of people who have run or been involved in complex organizations.”

He added that “the losses are something nobody likes” and insisted “we’ve got to get to the point where we’re cash-flow positive. We will get there.”

About: George Richard “Rick” Wagoner, Jr.

CEO/Chairman of the Board/Director at
General Motors Corporation

G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, General Motors Corporation, since 2003; held offices of President and Chief Executive Officer (2000-2003); joined General Motors Corporation in 1977. He was elected Vice President in charge of finance for General Motors Europe in June 1989. In July 1991, he was elected President and Managing Director of General Motors do Brasil. Effective November 1992, he was elected Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of General Motors. In July 1994, he was named President of North American Operations. In October 1998, he was elected a director, President and Chief Operating Officer of General Motors. AFFILIATIONS – Member of The Business Council and The Business Roundtable, the Board of Directors of Catalyst, and the Boards of Trustees of Duke University and Detroit Country Day School.

Nationality: American.

Born: February 9, 1953, in Wilmington, Delaware.

Education: Duke University, BA, 1975; Harvard University, MBA, 1977.

Family: Married Kathleen “Kathy” Kaylor, 1979; children: three.

Career: General Motors Corporation: 1977–1981, various positions in GM’s Treasurer’s Office; 1981–1984, treasurer of General Motors do Brasil (GMB); 1984–1987, executive director of GMB; 1987–1988, vice president and finance manager of GM of Canada; 1988–1989, group director, strategic business planning, Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada Group; 1989–1991, vice president, finance, for GM Europe; 1991–1992, president and managing director of GMB; 1992–1994, executive vice president and chief financial officer; 1994–1998, executive vice president of GM and president of North American Operations; 1998–2000, president and chief operating officer; 2000–2003, president and chief executive officer; 2003–, chairman and chief executive officer.

Awards: Named Executive of the Year by Automotive Industries, 2001.

Address: General Motors Corporation, 300 Renaissance Center, Detroit, Michigan 48265-3000; http://www.gm.com.

G. Richard “Rick” Wagoner Jr., who in June 2000 at the age of 47 became General Motors’s youngest CEO in history, took on the additional responsibilities of chairman on May 1, 2003. The world’s largest automaker, General Motors ranked second among all American companies in terms of annual revenues, topping the $185.5 billion mark in 2003. However, it remained locked in a no-holds-barred battle with the rest of the worldwide auto industry for market share, and Wagoner was determined to take whatever steps were necessary to in crease GM’s piece of the auto buyer’s dollar.

Wagoner is a member of the boards of trustees of Duke University, Detroit Country Day School, the Board of Dean’s Advisors of the Harvard Business School, and the Board of Directors of Catalyst. He is a member of The Business Council, The Business Roundtable, Detroit Renaissance Executive Committee, and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board.

Note: Company’s $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter, the Board of directors also needs to wake up and quit hemorrhage the company dry at the top. The ache must be shared and should be done now. It’s not just Rick Wagoner, the stock holders, employees and all who have sacrificed to help keep GM whole.

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Tagged with: ceo, Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Director, G.M, General Motors Corp, George M.C. Fisher, Rick Wagoner, Wagoner

Glarstout

I am not sure if gauging a company by its "stock" quotes is the best idea in the world.
Here you saw Madoff pretending that his quotes were solid and they were not. Here you have a prefect candidate for CEO- Wagoner, yet based on the quotes you insinuate him to be a flop- there is a heck of a lot more involved in being a responsible CEO than stock quotes.

For example- he could certainly opt out of "only manufacturing cars" and start teaching car manufacture and industry. He has evolved a huge rapport through teaching students the car industry and this is an important out reach program that is beneficial to the public and future workers. (our school system, which incidently gets more than 95% of our county tax dollars, could make good use of his teaching for not all of our kids are college-bound through personal preference)

Being into "Community" is not valued by the world today as big $ but it very much has to do with continuity and sustaining its future in bringing on new experienced workers. I have owned GM vehicles and they are top notch, as long as the company steers clear of 4 cylinders. They have created some of the best vehicles owned to-date including the Impala ( I had the 1970 version and I had to beat people away with a stick when I went to sell it and it was 20 something years old! ), which was recreated. Let's see Ford do that with the Mustang- but no changes please.
Give us the classic car line with the "green" technology- talk about the best of both worlds.

Seriously, this guy is top of his field and his devotion to community and staff is totally being ignored. Of the three auto manufacturers he was the only one who took stock himself in his people, those who worked in and out of the company. If this is not successful business than the business world has to recreate itself, not Wagoner.

He was the only one who was total Americana- Chrysler was already dealing with the Asian car markets and had manufacturing abroad, Ford was changing CEOs like they were his underwear. GM was the stable company and continues to be. The company with awesome Dealership service to cars as well! Service is very important to car owners, it makes or breaks you! This is how repeat business is made and Wagoner knows it!

I am so sick to death of these grow-quick, one-night-stand, fly-by-night, operators who take over a company, work it to the likings of the share holders then sell of to cash in and fly off leaving their staff and customers in the lurch. The company is left a mess of course because the whole human touch- customer service- had been abandoned ages ago. Hear that AirTran!! (you service people, not cattle)

When Yahoo refused to be used this way by that dope who owned a measely 5% and acted like he dictated to the world what yahoo and their shareholders would do- like he is ALL that- I was thrilled!! GOOD JOB YAHOO!

Those slicked down scam artists need to be kicked out of the business, Madoff wanna-bes. No one benefits from these dummies but a few tight-fisted egotists. They are sitting on plenty of dough but they are screwing over a company and all of their workers just to show a bit of "business" prowess in a public forum to stroke their egos- they aren't doing it for the money, they are so tight-fisted nothing leaves their grip without an elastic string attached.

SO, these CEOs, the one (Wagoner) who is growing slow and giving a hoot and holler for the employees and community, by doing expensive outreach programs, they need to STAY!

The idiots who are greasing their shareholders, to play "money God", those need to take a hike! Nobody cares about them, their ego, their selfish ideas or their stupid stock quotes.

We want responsible corporations/companies who do business the real business way not the hokey Harvard school of business way- sorry wagoner but that is where the "ditch the old guy before we have to pay his retirement" comes from but it came in an age after Wagoner, in Wagoner's days they were learning what I was learning - the customer is always right and you stand by your employee because he is your biggest "shareholder".