7/10/09: GM emerges from bankruptcy 6 weeks after filing as a private company with the U.S. Government the largest shareholder.
9/30/09: Announces that GM will drop the Saturn brand.
11/2/09: U.S. Government announces that GM and Chrysler will not realize enough value for the Treasury Department to break even on the $80 billion dollars that has been sunk into the companies.
11/3/09: GM will keep Opal, its European car company.
11/16/09: GM reports a $1.2 billion in losses for the third quarter of 2009.
12/1/09: CEO Fritz Henderson resigns after just 8 months. Whitacre takes over as CEO.
1/25/10: GM sells Saab brand for $74 million.
2/24/10: Announces the elimination of the Hummer brand.
4/7/10: Reports a $3.4 billion dollar loss for the fourth quarter of 2009.
4/21/10: Finds $8.1 billion for payment on U.S. Government loans.
5/17/10: Reports $865 million dollar profit for first quarter of 2010.
6/17/10: Cancels the normal 2 week July shut-down for most American plants.
7/22/10: Announces it will buy AmeriCredit Corp. for $3.5 billion. This move is to open credit to buyers with poor credit scores.
7/27/10: Sets the price of the Chevy Volt, an American car company’s first fully electric car, at $41,000.
7/31/10: GM announces a 14.3 percent rise in sales for the first 6 months of 2010. However, GM’s market share fell to 19.2 percent from 19.6 percent.
8/5/10: Settles arbitration with dealers that opposed being cut free from GM. GM dealers number 4500.
8/12/10: GM reports a $1.3 billion dollar profit for the second quarter of 2010. Whitacre steps down as CEO and is replaced by Daniel Akerson.
8/18/10: Files initial paperwork to take the company public.
9/16/10: Akerson announces it will take a couple of years to completely payback the government.
9/20/10: Treasury Department confirms that GM will allow foreign investors into stock sales. There are rumors that GM’s partner in China, SAIC, wants to buy a stake in the company.
10/5/10: GM offers stock to employees, retirees, and dealers with a minimum purchase of $1000 worth of stock.
10/12/10: Akerson meets with Timothy Geithner, Treasury Secretary, to discuss the IPO.
10/28/10: GM announces plans to reduce its debt by $11 million to attract more investors. It will buy back $2.1 billion of the government’s preferred shares, invest $6 billion toward its pension obligations, and put $2.8 billion into a health care fund.
While some of the moves that GM has made since emerging from bankruptcy last year have been positive, it is disturbing to find it is making decisions like purchasing credit companies to finance bad credit purchasers. There is also the issue of the rapid “changing of the guard” at the highest level of management. Why can’t GM keep a CEO for very long? Again, how does all this affect the GM workers in the Dayton area? Only time will tell.
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