By Bill Koenig and Katie Merx
Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre predicted that the government- owned automaker will be profitable in 2010, ending five years of annual losses.
Whitacre also said today he believes new Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell could be a candidate to become CEO; that GM is proceeding with winding down the Sweden-based Saab brand; and that any public sale of stock this year would come late in the second half.
The former chairman and CEO of AT&T Inc. is pushing GM management to move quickly to return to profit after its July 10 bankruptcy exit. Whitacre, 68, took the CEO job on Dec. 1 when the board ousted Fritz Henderson, and has said a search for a successor is under way.
“I think there’s a new GM here,” Whitacre said at a roundtable with reporters in Detroit, where the biggest U.S. automaker is based.
GM last posted an annual profit in 2004, ringing up $88 billion in losses from 2005 through last year’s first quarter. On Nov. 16, the automaker said its third-quarter loss after leaving court protection was $1.15 billion.
Whitacre said he hasn’t seen a list of potential candidates to replace him as CEO on a permanent basis. Whitacre hired Liddell, 51, who was previously the CFO of Microsoft Corp., on Dec. 21 as finance chief and vice chairman.
Henderson’s exit as CEO followed the forced departure of his predecessor, Rick Wagoner, in March at the direction of the Treasury’s auto task force. Whitacre was the panel’s pick to lead the revamped board that took over once GM left Chapter 11.
Whitacre used his first month as CEO to shuffle senior leaders, including the Dec. 4 promotion of two executives in their 40s to more-prominent posts. On Dec. 30, he replaced GM’s chief lobbyist with two of his former AT&T colleagues.
–Editors: Ed Dufner, Jamie Butters
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Koenig in Southfield, Michigan, at +1-248-927-2943 or wkoenig@bloomberg.net; Katie Merx in Detroit at +1-248-827-7130 or kmerx@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at +1-248-827-2944 or jbutters@bloomberg.net.
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