Ed Whitacre's First Web Chat

GM’s New CEO Ed Whitacre made his first appearance at the Fastlane blog in a webchat that represented the first access GM has given reporters to Whitacre. Needless to say, journalists do not like sharing their access with the general public, and they let GM know. Thedetroitbureau’s Paul Eisenstein asked “like many of my colleagues, I wonder when you will address us in the media directly, even if by telephone conference. To be honest, a webchat is quite a bit different and doesn’t carry the veracity of seeing or at least hearing you directly.” To which Whitacre responded:

Dear Paul,

I’ve been on the job for four days. I’ll do it as soon as I feel comfortable and have enough clear air and time. I promise we’ll talk soon.

No worries though. Whitacre didn’t actually say anything newsworthy.

What Whitacre did reveal can be summarized as follows:

GM has narrowed its search for new CFOs, and we can expect a decision in “two or three weeks.”

Whitacre communicates with the government task force about once a week, and according to Whitacre,”they promise to keep hands off and let the Board run the company. They’ve been true to their word and done exactly that…I give them high marks.”

Saab’s fate will be decided by the end of December, but GM is still involved in negotiations with “several interested parties.”

Whitacre believes “Mr. Reuss and Mrs. Docherty will do a great job going forward,” and he has no plans to bring in a Chief Operating Offier.

Whitacre “likes cars,” drives a CTS-V, and has previously purchased a Tahoe, and Avalanche and a Yukon XL.

GM has no plans for further job cuts, although when asked “Fritz Henderson had only about 8 months as CEO before he left. How long do the newly appointed execs have to show results before they are replaced?” he replied “Not long :-)”.

GM is considering paying back the taxpayers $6.7b in a lump sum, rather than quarter-by-quarter.

Otherwise, there’s not much to report. Perhaps the best summary of the webchat was Whitacre’s answer when pressed for specifics on 2010 market share goals. “As much as we can get,” was his reply.