Will GM woes hit the executive suite?

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With rumors of discontent among the General Motors Corp. brass swirling, George M.C. Fisher, head of GM’s directors and corporate governance committee, said today that chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner had the ‘unanimous’ and ‘unified’ support of the board.

Such a nothing to see here, move along kind of pronouncement was apparently necessary because just about the entire business world is beginning to wonder if and/or when Wagoner might get the ax in the face of crashing revenue, nonexistent profits, plummeting vehicle sales and nosediving stock.

Buried in the news of such hearty support was the fact that the 13-member board has hired independent counsel to help it evaluate the issue. Why would they do such a thing? Angry, litigious shareholders, worried about fiduciary responsibility, perhaps? Since Wagoner took over, GM shares have fallen a shocking 85%.

‘He’s pretty hard to defend right now because a lot of bad (stuff) has happened on his watch,’ said David Healy, analyst at Burnham Securities. Except he didn’t use the word ‘stuff.’

After all, it was angry stockholders who led to the ouster of Bob Nardelli from his job at Home Depot Inc. before he took the reins at Chrysler. In his six-year tenure at the Depot, Nardelli more than doubled earnings and revenue. Yet the stock only grew 6% on his watch, and shareholders, tired of his performance and boardroom antics, called for blood -- and got it. (Of course, Nardelli got compensated with a severance packaged valued at over $200 million.)

Here are some fun facts about the General:

• Wagoner took over as chief exec on June 1, 2000. GM share price that day: $69.81
• Wagoner became chairman on May 1, 2003. GM share price that day: $35.74
• Today, GM shares closed at $10.25, up from a five-decade low of $9.38 on July 14.
• Last month, GM canceled its 25 cents per share quarterly dividend.
• GM’s market cap now stands at $5.8 billion, about $200 million below GameStop Corp., as pointed out here, and only slightly less than the phantom valuation for Facebook, which is ‘worth’ $5 billion, according to latest estimates.
• Last week, GM reported a $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter, or $27.33 per share.
• Revenue for the period was $38.2 billion, an 18% slide.
• GM lost $3.3 billion in the first quarter.
• GM hasn’t had a profitable year since 2004, when it earned $2.8 billion. In the last three full years, it’s lost around $50 billion total.
• GM market share in the U.S. is down to 21.2% through July. In 2003, Wagoner’s first year as chairman, it was 28%.
• Light trucks and SUVs made up 61% of the vehicles GM sold through the first seven months of this year. That category is off 23% for GM and 19% industrywide.

Since the last year GM made a profit, Wagoner has received $30.1 million in compensation, not including this year, but definitely including the $14.4 million he received in 2007. It can be assumed that in the event he were to leave GM, his golden parachute would be generous. Here are GM’s bylaws on executive severance.

Of course, GM, and particularly Wagoner, are aware of the troubles the company faces. That’s why it’s already made upwards of $8 billion cuts, renegotiated its United Auto Workers contract and recently announced a new package of cuts, asset sales and borrowing aimed to increase the company’s cash position by $15 billion by 2010. It’s making forecasts based on $150 a barrel oil, shifting production towards cars and crossovers rather than trucks and is firing salaried workers in droves.

But the question is, with the kind of record GM has displayed over the past eight years, who, if anybody, will be held accountable?

One more list to consider -- GM’s board of directors:

Percy N. Barnevik, retired chairman of pharmaceutical maker AstraZeneca PLC
Erskine B. Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina
John H. Bryan, retired chairman and CEO of Sara Lee Corp.
Armando M. Codina, president and CEO, Flagler Development Group
Erroll B. Davis, Jr., chancellor, University System of Georgia
George M.C. Fisher, retired chairman and CEO, Eastman Kodak Co.
Karen Katen, chairman Pfizer Foundation, retired vice chairman Pfizer Inc.
Kent Kresa, chairman emeritus, Northrop Grumman Corp.
Ellen J. Kullman, exec. VP, DuPont
Philip A. Laskawy, retired chairman and CEO, Ernst & Young
Kathryn V. Marinello, chairman and CEO, Ceridian Corp.
Eckard Pfeiffer, retired president and CEO, Compaq Computer Corp.

and, of course,

G. Richard Wagoner, chairman and CEO, GM

-- Ken Bensinger