York elected to GM board

[BigPontiac]

York elected to GM board

DETROIT – The General Motors Board of Directors today elected Jerome York to the GM Board, effective February 7, 2006. He will serve on the Board’s Public Policy Committee and Investment Funds Committee.

“Jerry brings years of business experience and knowledge of the automotive industry to the GM Board,” said Rick Wagoner, GM chairman and chief executive officer. “We are pleased to welcome him to our Board.”

York is a consultant to Tracinda Corp., the beneficial owner of approximately 9.9 percent of the common stock of GM. Tracinda Corp. is owned by Kirk Kerkorian.

In his past business career, York spent 30 years in the automotive industry, having worked at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. He spent 14 years at Chrysler Corp. in a variety of executive positions and served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Chrysler from 1990 to 1993 and as a director from 1992 to 1993.

York currently serves as a director of Tyco International Ltd., Apple Computer, Inc. and Exide Technologies, Inc. He has been chief executive officer of Harwinton Capital Corp., a private investment company that he controls, since 2003.

From 1993 to 1995 he was senior vice president and chief financial officer of IBM Corp. and served as a member of IBM's Board of Directors in 1995. From 1995 to 1999, he was vice chairman of Tracinda Corp. York was chairman and chief executive officer of Micro Warehouse, Inc., a reseller of computer hardware, software and peripheral products from 2000 until 2003. He also served as a director of MGM MIRAGE from 1995 to 2005.

Wagoner also announced that GM Board accepted the resignation of E. Stanley O’Neal, chairman and chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. In submitting his resignation, O’Neal cited increased time demands resulting from the expanded schedule of GM board meetings which were difficult to accommodate given his responsibilities at Merrill Lynch, as well as limits on his ability to act as a GM director because of potential conflicts with matters in which Merrill Lynch is involved.

“Stan O’Neal has been a great asset on the GM Board and to General Motors management over his 5 years of service as a director,” Wagoner said. “We are grateful for his many positive contributions to General Motors and wish him the best.”

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the global industry sales leader for 75 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 327,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit , GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

Edited February 7, 2006 by Josh

[Matt276]

It's getting interesting.

[turbo200]

oh crap...

[evok]

Now York can see the books. The info that is not made public. His tone will change.

[enzl]

Now York can see the books.  The info that is not made public.  His tone will change.

Traceinda becomes an 'insider', thus bound to the same buy/sell rules as other directors...it will be interesting.

Am I alone in thinking York may help things, since his background is in rescue of these types?

[Guest Josh]

It's about friggin' time!

[Cadillacfan]

Bye bye Saab. Bye bye Hummer. You will be missed. Well.. you will be missed as a GM owned product. Watch Toyota buy them up and then the brands will automatically be the sweethearts of the auto world.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Cadillacfan

[-Camaro-]

Well this is great... /sarcasm

[Cadillacfan]

Special thanks go to zbad1 for finding this article.

Kerkorian Calls for Drastic GM Overhaul

The Daily Auto Insider

Thursday, January 12, 2006

January 2006

Jerome York, investor Kirk Kerkorian's top lieutenant, urged General Motors to speed up and expand its restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reported.

York, an adviser to Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp., which owns 7.8% of GM, said GM should immediately do the following: Cut its $2 a share annual dividend in half to save $566 million a year; cut pay significantly for top executives and directors; drop salaries for lower-level employees; trim GM's lineup of more than 80 U.S. models; and get rid of the Saab and Hummer brands to focus on core, high-volume brands.

"This situation calls for the company's going into crisis mode, adopting a degree of urgency that recognizes if things don't break right, the unthinkable could happen," York said.

Looks like it may become a reality.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Cadillacfan

[haypops]

I can see Saab, but why Hummer? I thought hummer was making money.

Perhaps because of the possible return (sales price)? On the other hand what is there to sell? They don't have a factory of their own. I suppose brand equity can be valuable but still!

[Croc]

QUIT STEALING ARTICLES WITHOUT CITING THE SOURCE VIA A LINK!

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarti...7&imageid=&cap=

Edited February 6, 2006 by Croc

[Cadillacfan]

Calm down man. I quoted a post of an article someone posted a month ago. There was no link to be found.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Cadillacfan

[Croc]

Calm down man.  I quoted a post of an article someone posted a month ago.  There was no link to be found.

No, this was directed at the creator of this thread. Simply saying it is from Reuters is not enough.

[Cadillacfan]

Ah.. okay.

[razoredge]

York elected to GM board

Im wondering what happened at

1. Chrysler from 90-93

2. IBM 93-95

why hes not long term ?

and if O'Neil had conflict of interests how can this guy not ?

Edited February 7, 2006 by razoredge

[BuddyP]

No, this was directed at the creator of this thread.  Simply saying it is from Reuters is not enough.

You've got to be kidding me

[BigPontiac]

QUIT STEALING ARTICLES WITHOUT CITING THE SOURCE VIA A LINK! 

http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarti...7&imageid=&cap=

Actually, my original post DID contain a link. The post was updated around 5:00 with more detail (not by me, Josh?) and the link to the original article was deleted.

[Guest Josh]

It was done by me, because it was the official GM press release. My apologies. Next time, make sure you're accusing the person of wrongdoing before jumping down their throats.

That said, this is good news to me. Somebody from the outside to shake things up. He's only one person and not the entire board. He will only bring a fresh perspective to the table.

[Chicagoland]

But, this may mean 'bye bye' to some more 'cherished' brands. "Pontiac Lucerne"? or "Chevy Aura"??

[motownr]

But, this may mean 'bye bye' to some more 'cherished' brands. "Pontiac Lucerne"? or "Chevy Aura"??

I posted about this on the 'other' board, but I think it's highly unlikely you'll see just one of the brands in the PBG channel go. If one goes, at least one other will have to go.

The wildcard, obviously, would be GMC, as it has a very different profit profile than P or B.

GM has spent a fortune channeling these brands. While the sales are dismal right now, I think the cost of consolidating/eliminating any of these brands would be staggering.

Saab, on the other hand, is an entirely different kettle of fish. While I can't speak to the future product portfolio, I can say that using the Olds calculus, killing off Saab wouldn't be that big a stone to pass, financially, for GM.

Hummer would be a pretty big nut, so I expect it to stay. If nothing else, Lutz and Wagoner are dead set on making it the next Jeep, so they probably have allocated a ton of product devel. bucks to ensure its future success.

I may be wrong, but who knows at this point?

[turbo200]

Saab is all GM product....for now and the future. Anyone that buys Saab would have to immediately look into development and design of new product, and probably be forced to pay GM to continue using transmission, engines, etc. Trollhatten is not an asset that anyone is looking to buy either.

I don't think Saab would go for the sole reason of it's only a brand---nothing else would come with it.

Wagoner has said the cost of losing Olds was catastrophic, or something like that. I just don't see how any one brand could be cut.

[razoredge]

Buick and Pontiac is over a half a million combined isnt it ? I cant see choppin off limbs again. I think time and product improvement and development is the only answer. This new stuff needs time, not to stagnate but to get heads turning. That choppin......and then all the bleedin......it just gets ugly.

[turbo200]

Pontiac just under 500k units

Buick just over 200k units

[Newbiewar]

Bye bye Saab.  Bye bye Hummer.  You will be missed.  Well.. you will be missed as a GM owned product.  Watch Toyota buy them up and then the brands will automatically be the sweethearts of the auto world.

Hummer and Saab have no real assets, Saab's are starting to be rebadged opels anyway... at least in europe, and here... well, its just a few extra bucks for gm...

Hummer isnt even made by GM... its just a brand name, the most recognizeable name in the USA, its not going anywhere...

Buick and Pontiac is over a half a million combined isnt it ? I cant see choppin off limbs again. I think time and product improvement and development is the only answer. This new stuff needs time, not to stagnate but to get heads turning. That choppin......and then all the bleedin......it just gets ugly.

GM learned from Olds... they still havent recouped that money, combining GMC-PONTIAC-BUICK also makes for a more difficult closure of a brand, but the sales wont be retained... Lutz is already doing the clean up of brands, York can just take care of the books and make GM's processes leaner and more efficent... York can help GMAC to become investment grade, sell off some assets and get some liquid cash to get better loans...

[ZL-1]

Im wondering what happened at

1. Chrysler from 90-93

2. IBM 93-95

why hes not long term ?

and if O'Neil had conflict of interests how can this guy not ?

Because Merrill Lynch may be an advisor to GM, and Tracinda is an investment company, not an advisory services company.

[Angry Dad]

Press is reporting the dividend has been cut.

This other noise about brands is pure speculation and contains as much credibilty as any thread on the Autoweek or Edmunds board. That amounts to something less than none.

[BuddyP]

I still don't understand why Olds was cut, if any at the time it should've been Buick, Olds had a way nicer overall lineup at the time. Buick had nothing even close to exciting.

[SimonDavid]

Yes the dividend's been cut, pay for the board has been halved, white collar health benefits slashed, senior management salaries slashed

Useful first day on the job

[91z4me]

Yes the dividend's been cut, pay for the board has been halved, white collar health benefits slashed, senior management salaries slashed

Useful first day on the job

Yeah he did all this himself. None of it was planned before hand.

[SimonDavid]

Yeah he did all this himself.  None of it was planned before hand.

Well he called for it all very publicly before hand, and it was announced the day after he was appointed to the board.

[91z4me]

Well he called for it all very publicly before hand, and it was announced the day after he was appointed to the board.

That means NOTHING. Decisions like this are not made in 1 day. They are studied by numerous people and then the group makes the decision, not ANY 1 person.

[evok]

Traceinda becomes an 'insider', thus bound to the same buy/sell rules as other directors...it will be interesting.

Am I alone in thinking York may help things, since his background is in rescue of these types?

Yes - exactly.

[evok]

Yes the dividend's been cut, pay for the board has been halved, white collar health benefits slashed, senior management salaries slashed

Useful first day on the job

The symbolism is now complete...only one thing left to do.

[SoCalCTS]

Cut the dividend entirely and save GM billions of dollars. The paltry amount they are planning to cut will save 586 Million a year. Just imagine what cutting the entire dividend would save.

[CaddyXLR-V]

The symbolism is now complete...only one thing left to do.

Will they get it before 07?

[SimonDavid]

Will they get it before 07?

I think this is a softening up excercise. Clear the decks before 07 and take away all the UAW's excuses.

[evok]

Will they get it before 07?

All signs are looking to yes.

[SingleStylish]

All signs are looking to yes.

To what extent and will GM be obligated again if the ship quits listing???

[evok]

To what extent and will GM be obligated again if the ship quits listing???

There is a UAW election coming up this summer. So I suspect any announcements would have to wait until after that. Gettelfinger knows the issues, the question is, can he sell the solution to the people he represents?

[usa1]

This is good news for GM. I hope that York can force some tough changes on GM that Waggoner and Co. have been hesitent to do. Let's hope the rest of the GM board doesn't marganilize him like they did Perot.

Mark

[Cadillacfan]

(Cadillacfan @ Feb 6 2006, 03:30 PM)

Bye bye Saab.  Bye bye Hummer.  You will be missed.  Well.. you will be missed as a GM owned product.  Watch Toyota buy them up and then the brands will automatically be the sweethearts of the auto world.

Hummer and Saab have no real assets, Saab's are starting to be rebadged opels anyway... at least in europe, and here... well, its just a few extra bucks for gm...

Hummer isnt even made by GM... its just a brand name, the most recognizeable name in the USA, its not going anywhere...

I never said Hummer was leaving.. I just said we'd miss hummer being owned by GM.