Ed Whitacre Jr., General Motors Chairman of the Board, confirmed this morning that he will take over as permanent CEO of the Michigan automaker effective immediately. Whitacre also said that the automaker plans to pay back its loans from the United States and Canada by June, and he said that the company is still talking to Spyker about the sale of Saab but has not reached an agreement yet.
“This place needs some stability. I guess that’s me,” Whitacre said.
Whitacre said that the automaker did not succeed in searching for an outside CEO and that the board of directors voted in favor of keeping him on full time as both CEO and Chairman of the Board. GM is not expected to make any major changes to its leadership team, although Whitacre said that more changes within the company are set to come.
“I don’t know,” Whitacre said in response to a question asking how long he would be in the role. “Long enough to get the job done.”
Whitacre, who had been interim CEO since last year, said that he will continue to commute to Detroit from his home near San Antonio. He would not confirm or deny reports that his salary would be $1.
“That’ll come out in the next few days,” Whitacre said.
Whitacre didn’t detail much about GM’s ongoing dealer arbitration issues; he did say that re-absorption of some of the dealers that it had planned to cut would not slow the automaker’s growth progress.
One payment; no Saab announcement
Whitacre said that GM plans to make one payment to the American and Ontario governments in June, if not before. Previously, GM had not confirmed whether it would make a single payment or multiple payments.
The new CEO would not answer questions about a potential sale of Saab to Spyker ; much news has emerged out of Sweden and Detroit over the last 48 hours indicating that Spyker had reached an agreement with GM.
