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General Motors Co. reported Thursday a $1.3 billion second-quarter profit, a stark contrast to its nearly $13 billion loss a year ago, and announced that Edward E. Whitacre . would step down as chief executive Sept. 1.
Mr. Whitacre took over as temporary CEO when then-Chief Executive Frederick "Fritz" Henderson resigned under pressure from the board. A month later he dropped the interim from his title. Mr. Whitacre will continue to serve as GM's chairman until year end.

"It was my plan all along to help return this company to greatness and that I didn't want to stay a day beyond that," Mr. Whitacre said.

The auto maker is capitalizing on a leaner cost structure created through last year's bankruptcy that left the company with fewer brands, employees and factories and a fraction of the debt it once held.

GM repaid about $7 billion in U.S. government funds since the auto industry rescue, and is being helped by about $43 billion in U.S. loans. The government can't try to recover the money until GM returns to the public stock markets and the Treasury can begin selling its 61% stake in the company.

GM is eager for the U.S. government to begin selling stake, a move that Mr. Whitacre has said will help shed the stigma of being a government-owned auto maker.

The fact that GM is able to keep inventory in line while sharply increasing production is "incredibly positive news," said Charles Moore, senior managing director at Conway, MacKenzie & Dunleavy, a Birmingham, Mich., consulting firm. "We can expect GM to continue and grow these results," he said

Information extracted from WSJ.com