Peace for a Price at GM

Perot takes the $700 million and runs

They were the odd couple atop the world's largest industrial corporation. One was a consummate organization man who had risen fast by mastering the bureaucracy of a giant company, the other a feisty free spirit who had built a billion-dollar firm from scratch. For two years everyone had wondered what would become of the uneasy chemistry between General Motors Chairman Roger Smith, 61, and H. Ross Perot, 56, the company's largest shareholder.

Last week the answer came: an explosion that hurled Perot off the GM board of directors and into the headlines. At a session that Perot agreed to skip, the...

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