Congraulations Ed, Bring On The IPO

Posted in Investing by CrankySaver
July 22, 2010 03:58 PM - 1 Comments

A little more than a year ago I wrote a post called “Invest in the ‘New GM?’ I don’t think so.”

The thrust of the post was this:

I understood the government’s desire to sell its 60% stake in the bankrupt automaker as soon as possible. But “I wouldn’t invest a dime in the new GM” until someone got rid of “all those GM executives who wrecked the company.”

Well, I’m here to tell you that someone did.

General Motor’s post bankruptcy Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr.

Publications have used phrases such as “mass exodus” and “frenzy” to describe all of the hiring and firing going on under Whitacre.

My favorite example of Whitacre’s determination to bring the best possible people to GM is when he appointed Susan Docherty to be head of U.S. sales and marketing in March — and then dumped her in May when he was able to hire Joel Ewanick.

Docherty had spent 24-years at GM, most recently as the head of marketing for Hummer and Buick/GMC. Anything remarkable happen there?

Ewanick was the guy who came up with Hyundai’s “buyer assurance plan,” which promised customers could return their new cars if they lost their jobs. It was the marketing coup of the recession and turned him into the hottest sales guru in the auto industry.

(Oh, and Docherty wasn’t fired. She was sent to Shanghai to run GM’s sales and marketing in Asia, Latin America and a bunch of other places.)

AT&T was not a consumer-friendly place when Whitacre was running it, and I was not a fan.

But I’ve got to hand it to him. Whitacre has gotten rid of the guys who wrecked GM and begun building a new management team that’s worthy of investing in.

Bring on the IPO.