BREAKING: General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner resigns under pressure from Obama

Posted: Mar 29, 2009
Filed under: GM, Industry News

Just a day before President Barack Obama announces his plans to help General Motors and Chrysler LLC, Rick Wagoner has resigned his position as Chief Executive Officer of GM. According to a report by Reuters, Wagoner resigned after being pressured from the Obama administration on Sunday as the government prepares to announce the second round of bailout money for the Detroit automaker.

It was reported on Friday, that Rick Wagoner was in Washington, D.C. meeting with Steve Rattner and the auto task force. We’re guessing the decision to resign his position as CEO started then. GM has yet to release any official statement but a White House official says that the resignation was done at the request of the Obama administration.

Obama said earlier today that GM and Chrysler have not done enough to prove their viability since receiving a $17.4 billion bailout in December.

A successor to Wagoner, who has been CEO since 2000, will most likely be announced tomorrow following Obama’s announcement on what extra help will be provided to the auto industry.

- By: Omar Rana

Source: Reuters

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  • a time for another start of GM. Why not forget the negative sides of him and remember the positive ones? Those things he does to the company.
  • asdf
    FINALLY!
  • zermatt
    Wagoner has been CEO of GM for 8 years and has been with GM for 28 years. The problems that GM has are directly the result of his long term, insider tenure.

    Falling market share, an over dependence on debt, bloated/redundant product lines, an over sized dealer network and labor problems galore are all problems that he failed to do anything about.

    The lack of action and the insistence on business as usual has led to the catastrophe that GM faces today. No leadership and no vision, just ostrich character traits.

    Rahm Emanuel has said in the past that a crisis is a table thing to waste and Wagoner has given the administration a perfect opportunity to hand GM over to the Greens and the labor interests.

    If you are a car enthusiast, your remaining independent American choice will be Ford.
  • Bobmarley
    "Greens and the labor interests"....aka the Obama administration/feds.

    Rahm Emanuel said it pretty clearly, basically saying that this administration is all about ceasing power and expanding the government into every possible piece of our lives.
  • kabluey
    I don't even have words for this.... To be fair to Wagoner they're all in trouble, and therefore, all need to be fired.. I believe this decision to be unfair if changes are not made at Chrysler and Ford as well..
  • Pat
    i'm honestly worried.... I really would have felt better if Nardelli was asked to leave...that guy is so lost
  • Ivan Gutierrez
    Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

    Nardelli you're up next.
  • Pat
    i don't think nardelli will go though....Chrysler is private and I don't think the govn't can dictate leadership of private companies
  • Ivan Gutierrez
    Darn your right, I completely forgot about that.
  • zermatt
    All bets are off.

    If Chrysler wants taxpayer money the administration is setting the rules.

    If Chrysler wants to set the rules they will need to raise private capital. Thus far, Cerberus has not been willing to put another dime into the company.

    Daimler owns 20% of Chrysler and it is proposed that Fiat would pick up 35%. It is clear that Cerberus would like to get out from under all of their auto industry investments (GMAC & Chrysler Financial included).
  • zermatt
    Well said.
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