General Motors had a last-minute press conference this morning, and while the news about Saab was mostly non-news (GM has not changed its position on winding down the brand, nor has it a viable deal with Spyker or anyone else at this time), acting CEO Ed Whitacre did announce that the search for a new chief executive is over and that the new CEO is -- Ed Whitacre.

Citing a need for stability at the company, Whitacre said he was "honored" to be offered the position (he'll also remain chairman of the board), but could not say for how long he would stay in the role:

I told the board I would take it. We didn't assign a specific time to it, but as far as I'm concerned ... it's for an adequate amount of time to get done what we need to get done and I can't tell you if that's three years or two years or what it might be, but it's long enough to get to where we need to go.

Whitacre said that the company had hired an outside search firm, but in response to several questions about the way in which the 60-day-long search was handled said that specific queries as to the process -- whether other candidates had thrown their names into the ring, etc. -- would have to be posed to the board of directors.

As CEO going forward, Whitacre touched briefly (though without much detail) on an initial public offering for the company, as a way to pay back government funds. When asked by a Dow Jones reporter whether the company would make one payment, or several over time, he said that the company will make one payment in June, if not before.

You can check out the whole video after the jump: