“Mr. Liddell, whose departure from Microsoft was announced last month, is the highest-ranking executive hired by G.M. under Edward E. Whitacre Jr., the automaker’s chairman and interim chief executive,” Bunkley reports.His selection comes about three months after G.M.’s directors decided to replace Ray Young, who has been chief financial officer since March 2008.”
Bunkley reports, “Mr. Liddell, 51, became Microsoft’s chief financial officer in 2005 after holding the same position at International Paper Company. He has also been chief executive at a forestry products company in his native New Zealand and an investment banker, but has no automotive experience. He will join G.M. on Jan. 1, about six months after the automaker emerged from bankruptcy protection.”
“He earned $3.7 million from Microsoft in the 2009 fiscal year and will receive $1.9 million after leaving the company. He will earn considerably less at G.M., at least initially, because the company must adhere to executive pay limits tied to the $50 billion it borrowed from the federal government in the past year,” Bunkley reports. “Among his expected responsibilities at G.M. will be to oversee a public stock offering as soon as next year. Proceeds from an offering would help the government, which owns 60 percent of G.M., collect some of the money it lent.”
Bunkley reports, “G.M. on Friday made a $1 billion payment toward the $6.7 billion in government debt that remained on its balance sheet.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is like jumping off the Titanic and landing on the deck of the Andrea Doria.