Zeitgeist: Fritz is Out

Posted by Brandon | Filed under Detroit MI

Ed Whitacre, the New Interim CEO of GM

Ed Whitacre, the New Interim CEO of GM

General Motors has its third CEO in less than a year after it accepted the resignation of Fritz Henderson on Tuesday.  Check out the announcement (video here) by GM Chairman of the Board Ed Whitacre who will become the automaker’s interim CEO while a search is undertaken to find a permanent successor.

Fritz Henderson’s daughter (apparently, according to reports at Huffington Post) isn’t following the company line that her dad “resigned.”  She took to Facebook to express her frustration and anger.  Warning!:  Stop reading now if you’re easily offended by colorful language.

HE FUCKING GOT ASKED TO STEP DOWN ALL OF YOU FUCKING IDIOTS. IM FRITZ’S FUCKING DAUGHTER, AND HE DID NOT FUCKING RESIGN. WHITACRE IS A SELFISH PIECE OF SHIFT [sic], WHO CARES ABOUT HIMSELF AND NOT THE FUCKING COMPANY. HAVE FUN WITH GM, I HOPE TO NEVER BUY FROM THIS GOD FORESAKEN COMPANY EVERY AGAIN [sic]. FUCK ALL OF YOU. –Sarah Henderson?

A few questions about the future of the United States’ largest automobile manufacturer and one of Michigan’s largest employers, after the jump . . .

Fritz Henderson, former CEO of General Motors

Fritz Henderson, former CEO of General Motors

Why did Fritz resign?

According to this Free Press article, GM’s new post government-led restructuring board made the decision.  GM’s board, which first met last August, wanted to know if products could be brought to market more quickly.  It also did not agree with Henderson’s decision to sell GM’s Opel brand in Europe.  (The deal fell apart recently.)  GM’s plans to sell Saab and Saturn also fell apart recently.

What will happen to GM now?

According to Whitacre, not much will change in the short term.

GM’s daily business operations will continue as normal. … I remain more convinced than ever that our company is on the right path and that we will continue to be a leader in offering the worldwide buying public the highest quality, highest value cars and trucks,” Whitacre said. “But we now need to accelerate our progress toward that goal, which means the return to profitability and repaying the American and Canadian taxpayers as soon as possible. –Ed Whitacre

Good luck to Ed Whitacre!  Hopefully this is just a speed bump on the way to the recovery of an American legend.

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Permalink | December 3rd, 2009

5 Responses to “Zeitgeist: Fritz is Out”

  1. Sanford Says:
    December 3rd, 2009 at 10:14 am

    I really, really wanna see GM succeed. They seem so erratic, though, it doesn’t give me a lot of confidence.

  2. Cindy L. Says:
    December 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm

    Like the person who commented before me, I really want to see GM succeed but am very worried. And generally speaking, I am very worried about Detroit. I’ve been downtown several times in recent months and it looks like a movie set for the end of civilization. So many burned out, vacant buildings… such an ambiance of utter hopelessness.

  3. Brandon Says:
    December 3rd, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    Thanks for the comments, Sanford and Cindy.

    I moved to Boston recently, and, I’ve gotta tell you, it’s such a different world. Sure, there’s a recession here, too, but it just underscored the need for some major attention in Detroit. Detroit has all of the problems, and maybe more, as New Orleans, but didn’t have a “Katrina moment.” I hope that the new city council and mayor can make some progress. I’m very impressed by Mayor Bing’s reality-based approach to Detroit thus far. Michigan does need to diversify and work to figure out how to attract business again — much like Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh did.

  4. Linda Says:
    December 3rd, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    Sure is hard to keep the company line these days with Facebook, Twitter, etc. Sounds like they didn’t treat Fritz very nicely on the way out. I wonder what Rick Waggoner thinks about all of this?

  5. DominiqueKing Says:
    December 3rd, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    Cindy, Brandon-
    I was just talking about how downtown Detroit compares to other big cities to someone who just came back from a few days in NYC. We both came up with several examples of large cities that seem to have lively and relatively thriving downtowns–NY, Chicago, Cincinnati (and I think this last one is a real basis for comparison–we didn’t feel uncomfortable walking around downtown at night, walking down to the ball park at night from our hotel).

    And, as Sanford points out, GMs herky jerky actions lately don’t inspire a lot of confidence.

    Did anyone ever hear if the FB posting was genuine?

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