General Motors has had a rough few years. Sequential years of falling sales resulted in GM filing for bankruptcy and asking for bailout funds from the government. GM was placed under government conservatorship, and also the terms of the bailout incorporated that the government held a majority of shares. The short time GM was in bankruptcy was not ill spent. Recently, it was announced that CEO Ed Whitacre, Jr. would be retiring, and also the General Motors is days from an Initial Public Offering.
CEO of GM Ed Whitacre to hang it up
According to the New York Times, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors, Ed Whitacre Jr., is retiring by the end of the year. He was chairman of AT and T before going over to General Motors. He will hand over his duties to previous Nextel executive Daniel Akerson. Whitacre will step down as CEO by September and step down as Chairman at the end of the year. Whitacre had planned on retiring as soon as General Motors had stabilized and was headed in the right direction. That certainly seems to be the case.
GM goes from pitfalls to profits
After filing for bankruptcy last year and turning over majority ownership to the governments of the United States and Canada, General Motors has posted a profit for the second consecutive quarter. According to USA Today, GM has just posted a profit of $ 1.3 billion. The second quarter of 2009 saw GM unable to pay their debts. First quarter of 2010 saw profits of $ 865 million, according to CNN Money. This is a sure sign that things are looking up for the auto manufacturing giant, which had to divest itself of all but four main brands to survive – Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet.
IPO for GM within the very near future
As General Motors was de-listed from stock exchanges, and roughly 60 percent of the shares are held by the United States of America government, the company will have to sell those shares to pay the Treasury back. Chris Liddell, the Chief Financial Officer for GM, hasn’t commented much on the subject. A leaner and meaner General Motors might open its Initial Public Offering at a record price for GM stock.
Additional reading at these sites
NY Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/13/business/13auto.html?_r=1 and src=mv
USA Today
usatoday.com/money/companies/earnings/2010-08-12-gm_N.htm
CNN
money.cnn.com/2010/08/12/news/companies/gm_results/
