General Motors Co chairman and chief executive Ed Whitacre announced a broad shake-up of the automaker’s senior leadership on Friday, tightening his grip on the company three days after replacing its CEO.
The shake-up suggests that Whitacre, who became chairman of GM when the automaker emerged from a government-funded bankruptcy in July, could remain interim CEO for some time, possibly a year or more, analysts said.
“You wouldn’t shake up the management if you expect a new person to build his own team,” said Logan Robinson, a long-time auto industry executive and professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.
Under the changes, Bob Lutz retained his position as vice chairman and was named a senior adviser of design and product development for Whitacre. Lutz, 77, put off retirement to head marketing for GM after it emerged from bankruptcy.
In addition to the management changes, GM director Stephen Girsky is to serve as a special adviser to Whitacre.
GM named Nick Reilly head of GM Europe to oversee the restructuring of its Opel unit, Mark Reuss, 46, to head North America and Tom Stephens, 61, to run a combined product development and purchasing organization.
“I want to give people more responsibility and authority deeper in the organization and then hold them accountable,” Whitacre said in a statement.
Whitacre was named interim CEO on Tuesday after Fritz Henderson resigned in a split with the board.
Henderson was asked to step down after eight months, with the board looking for a quicker restructuring, the second abrupt departure of a GM CEO this year. His predecessor, Rick Wagoner, was forced out in March by the administration of US President Barack Obama.
The latest management changes gave some of GM’s younger executives more control.
“If you’re going to stay long-term, you’re going to choose the team you want,” Robinson said. “It’s what we see in the latest round of changes.”
IHS Global Insight analyst John Wolkonowicz said he expected Whitacre to remain CEO until after an initial public stock offering, in part, to prevent US government pay restrictions from hampering the search.
“What he is trying to say is ‘we’ve got to move fast and we’ve got to move efficiently and we have to forget the way GM used to do it,’” Wolkonowicz said.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS