GM’s Chief Financial Officer to Resign

General Motors Corp. said Chief Financial Officer Michael Losh will leave Sept. 1, marking the first major change in new Chief Executive Rick Wagoner’s management team at the world’s largest auto maker. John Finnegan, president of General Motors Acceptance Corp., will replace Losh on a temporary basis while GM searches for a permanent successor. One of Finnegan’s immediate challenges will be to deal with Carl Icahn, the renowned financier, who said last week he plans to buy a stake of up to 15% in GM, whose shares have fallen about 23% since late April. General Motors shares rose $3.94, or 5.7%, to close at $72.88 on the New York Stock Exchange. Analysts attributed the rise mainly to the possibility that GM has found a way to shed the rest of its Hughes stake for cash without incurring a big capital gains tax.