General Motors Co. Chief Executive Fritz Henderson has resigned, marking the loss of the company's second CEO this year.GM Chairman Ed Whitacre said in a brief statement to reporters that he will become interim CEO while a search is made for a permanent successor.
Whitacre said the board accepted Henderson's resignation today. He said Henderson had done a remarkable job.
But "we all agreed that some changes needed to be made going forward," Whitacre said.
In a statement, the Obama administration said, "This decision was made by the Board of Directors alone. The administration was not involved in the decision."
Henderson became GM's top executive in late March after the Obama administration asked CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner to step down. Henderson worked with the U.S. government to take GM through bankruptcy about 60 days later.
The Obama auto task force briefly considered ousting Henderson when it asked Wagoner to step down in March. But former task force chief Steven Rattner told the Bloomberg Washington Summit last month that finding a replacement for Henderson was considered too difficult at the time, with a new CEO search likely taking six months.
Henderson remained on as CEO as the automaker emerged from bankruptcy as a company whose majority owner is the U.S. government. The U.S. Treasury has pumped around $50 billion into GM to keep it alive.
Gerald Meyers, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Business, has known Whitacre for years. Meyers described him as a demanding boss who "takes no prisoners."
Henderson, Meyers said, "didn't stand a chance with Ed as his boss. If it was Jesus Christ, he would have bowled him over."
Along with all of the changes, former head of AT&T Ed Whitacre was named chairman.