GM Chief Replies to Perot Criticism of Firm

DETROIT —  General Motors Chairman Roger Smith has publicly replied to criticism by H. Ross Perot, head of its Electronic Data Systems subsidiary, calling him impatient and ignorant of GM’s operations.

In an interview in Wednesday’s editions of the Detroit Free Press, Smith responded to Perot’s recent attacks on the operations and leadership of the country’s No. 1 auto maker, of which he is a director. Smith also repeated GM’s denial of a report that it has been negotiating to sell EDS, its data-processing and telecommunications subsidiary, to American Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Perot founded EDS, which he sold to GM in 1984 in exchange for GM stock that made him its largest shareholder. He serves as chairman of the Dallas-based subsidiary.

“He is a different kind of guy than we are in GM,” Smith said in an interview with the Free Press editorial board. “He came out of Texas from a one-person organization that he grew up in.

“He’s the kind of guy that would saddle up his horse and ride to Iran to rescue people. We knew that. He is impatient.”

Perot has referred to GM as a sluggish, top-heavy bureaucracy unable to implement needed changes.

“He is not very familiar in total with our business,” Smith said.