, Columnist
Mary Barra Needs to Explain GM’s Nikola Misstep
It’s unclear whether the CEO and her due diligence team were appropriately skeptical of an unproven startup.
General Motors Co. has largely backed out of one of the year’s strangest deals — a partnership with an unproven startup, Nikola Corp. — that was meant to signal the auto giant’s commitment to electric vehicles. It has unspooled, instead, as a cautionary tale about weak corporate governance.
At the center of the debacle is Mary Barra, GM’s talented and well-regarded chief executive officer, and Stephen J. Girsky, a former GM executive who put the Nikola transaction in front of Barra in the first place.