Rick Wagoner
Rick Wagoner
George Richard "Rick" Wagoner, Jr.is an American businessman and former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors. Wagoner resigned as Chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House. The latter part of Wagoner's tenure as CEO of General Motors found him under heavy criticism as the market valuation of GM went down by more than 90% and the company lost more than $82 billion USD. This led to his being...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBusinessman
Date of Birth9 February 1953
CountryUnited States of America
We are viewing the U.S. economic and auto market environment with considerable caution, ... That, combined with our poor business results in the first three quarters this year, really highlight that we are at a critical juncture in our company's history. And so we are accelerating the pace and scope of our turnaround actions.
If all you do is read the headlines, you may not have as constructive a view of the outlook as we believe you could have.
We know a lot about Daewoo. We think we understand what the value of Daewoo is to us. Our view on that will not be changed by or influenced by other people being interested in it. If somebody else comes and pays a whopper amount for it, more power to them.
It's clear that the U.S. market and economic conditions have become significantly more uncertain. Overall we remain very bullish on the prospects for the auto industry in the U.S. and globally but at this point we are viewing the U.S. economy and auto market environment with considerable caution.
I've taken a significant pay cut this year, ... I think I'll have a 50 percent pay cut.
These bold initiatives are designed to immediately improve our competitiveness and position GM for long-term success and today's transition is a further step in that direction.
These results reinforce the need to step up our efforts to eliminate waste and lower costs, ... The industry continues to venture into new territory -- near-record demand mixed with unprecedented price pressures and intensely strong competition on all fronts.
These negotiations were done in a positive, cooperative, problem-solving spirit, ... While it may have taken some time to reach this cooperative solution, I think it was time well-spent.
These markets are going to grow. They're going to have their ups and downs, just like the American market. But Asia will be the fastest growing area of the world.
These actions are necessary for GM to get its costs in line with our major global competitors,
These actions are necessary for G.M. to get its costs in line with our major global competitors.
There's pressures, of course, but I actually feel energized by the challenge.
Really, a lot of our share loss this year is a strategy to -- and I think it's the right thing to do -- lessen the daily rental fleet,
We have decided to substantially alter the pension benefits for current U.S. salaried employees so that we can provide a competitive and fair benefit but also reduce the financial risks to GM.