General Motors Chief Executive Fritz Henderson is leaving the company amid reports that he has been ousted by the GM board, which met yesterday (December 1).
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Chairman Ed Whitacre is taking over as interim Chief Executive, according to a GM statement, in which he said that the GM board accepted Henderson’s resignation
Whitacre said in the statement that ‘Fritz has done a remarkable job in leading the company through an unprecedented period of challenge and change’.
However, the statement went on to say that ‘while momentum has been building over the past several months, all involved agree that changes needed to be made’.
Whitacre said he will begin working in the Renaissance Center headquarters on a daily basis and said that the leadership team ‘are united and committed to the task at hand’.
GM’s daily business operations will ‘continue as normal’, the statement said.
“The board decided – and Fritz agreed – that given where we are, it was time to make some changes,” GM spokesman Chris Preuss said at a hastily arranged news conference.
GM’s board also decided at its meeting today to give Saab a stay of execution. It said it will evaluate expressions of interest by the end of the year and wind the brand down if a suitable buyer isn’t in place.
It’s not clear exactly what has triggered Henderson’s abrupt departure following the board meeting.
Some analysts believe that GM needs an outside talent to galvanise the firm for rapid change the way Alan Mulally has apparently succeeded at cross-town rival Ford. Henderson, they say, is seen as ‘old guard’ GM and was always supposed to be an interim appointment following former CEO Wagoner’s enforced departure during the Chapter 11 crisis earlier this year.
However, Henderson was thought by many to be growing into the job which he seemed in no hurry to leave.
