So many have considered saving GM from itself. Ross Perot tried and was eventually paid a massive and handsome reward to go away. T Boone Pickens had looking into it. Carl Icahn considered it. Kirk Kerkorian is the latest to try having bought just short of 10% GM stock over 18 months, suffered large losses, got GM to talk to Nissan and Renault, and has apparently just given up after initially suggesting he would increase his GM ownership to 12%. From the NY Times of 7 Oct 2006:
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Dissident Quits Board at G.M.
More than that, however, Mr. York said he had not found “an environment in the boardroom that is very receptive to probing much beyond” data provided by management.
But Mr. York always faced the risk of being the board’s odd man out. Early on in his tenure as a G.M. board member, management experts suggested he would probably be isolated, given that every other G.M. director was chosen while Mr. Wagoner was chief executive or a top company manager.
In fact, Mr. York’s comments echoed those of another dissident G.M. board member, H. Ross Perot, who parted ways with the company nearly two decades ago after a brief but bitter stint on the board.
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From the Washington Post:
Quote:
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In his resignation letter, York said he quit because the boardroom environment was not "very receptive to probing much beyond the materials provided by management."
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That is what Ross Perot also complained of 20 years earlier.
The Nissan Renault alliance fell through when Wagoner (GM's top executive) insisted those other companies pay a premium surcharge for doing the alliance with GM. Wagoner somehow insisted that doing business with GM would vastly reward those other two companies. Maybe if GM had something of value to provide. GM products are some of the world's crappiest. The reason that Nissan and Renault were talking is because their changes to GM would make GM more valuable - in direct contradiction to Wagoner's thinking. GM without Nissan and Renault would only continue to stagnate. Why should they pay GM a premium to save GM?
1970s meant innovation with overhead cams. 1980 were the 70 Hp/liter engine (85 and 100 for turbo and supercharged). 1990s were the development of a hybrid. GM still has no overhead cam engines, still does not sell 70 Hp/Liter engines which is why so many GM cars are six and eight cylinders - for more expensive. And, of course, GM still has no hybrid. Classic when management all comes from business schools, does not drive, and fears innovation.