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GM launching IPO, ending government majority Top Stories

stake First conviction unlikely to help Obama shut

Gitmo
Buzz up! GM launching IPO, ending government majority
stake
By SHARON SILKE CARTY, AP Auto Writer – 28 mins ago Obama enlists big names to push for nuclear
DETROIT – General Motors is returning to life as a public company treaty

Thursday with a stock offering worth potentially $23 billion, ending the Sweden seeks to detain Assange in rape case
U.S. government's role as majority shareholder and closing a Murkowski win a blow to Palin's influence
remarkable chapter in American corporate history.
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The U.S. government should make about $13.6 billion as GM shares After food, China faces bigger inflation challenge
start trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The federal Treasury Philly's new 'museum' is free, outdoors, open 24-
Play Video is unloading more than 400 million shares of GM, reducing its stake in 7

AP  – GM prices stock offering at $33. the company from 61 percent to about 33 percent. Fresh Android Apps for Nov. 18: Sky Map update,
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Slideshow: General The IPO could wind up as the largest in history. GM set a price of $33
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Motors Corp. per common share on Wednesday, a day after it raised the number of
shares it will offer to satisfy investor demand. When the U.S. More Top Stories »
government and other owners sell their shares, they'll raise $18.2
Video: GM IPO at $33 a
Share CNBC billion. GM will raise another $5 billion by selling 100 million preferred
shares at $50 each.

Together, the sale of common and preferred stock will bring the deal's
RELATED QUOTES
value to a record $23.2 billion.
F 16.68 0.00
GM 0.75 0.00 Dan Akerson, GM's fourth CEO in less than two years, will ring the
opening bell to start the day's trading, and they'll honk the horn of a
new Chevrolet Camaro SS muscle car at the same time.

For Mark Reuss, GM's North American president, the first day of
trading represents a rare second chance for the company, courtesy of
a $50 billion bailout from U.S. taxpayers.

It's a chance that GM is ready to capitalize on as a new company with

AP – A banner displaying the name of
General Motors covers the New York Stock
Exchange in New York, Thursday, …
members of Congress, begging for money to keep GM alive. Four months after that, he was ousted by
President Barack Obama.
a focus on building cars and trucks that people want to buy, Reuss
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said in an interview Thursday from the floor of the exchange.
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The stock offering is the latest in a series of head-spinning Dermatologists DON'T Want You Knowing
developments over the past two years for an American corporate icon. About This Skin Care Secret!
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In September 2008, to mark its 100th birthday, the automaker
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Two months later, then-CEO Rick Wagoner found himself in front of
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By June 2009, GM had filed for bankruptcy. It emerged relieved of most of its debt but mostly owned by the Upgrade Your Life
government and saddled with a damaging nickname: "Government Motors." The value of its old stock was A guided tour of the hottest new
wiped out, along with $27 billion in bond value. gadgets on the market.
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Now GM will become a publicly traded company again and revive the stock symbol "GM." Obama on
Wednesday said GM's IPO marks a major milestone not only in the turnaround of the company, but of the
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U.S. auto industry as a whole.
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"Supporting the American auto industry required tough decisions and shared sacrifices, but it helped save » Adventures of Harry Hurt
jobs, rescue an industry at the heart of America's manufacturing sector, and make it more competitive for the
future," Akerson said.
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Most of the new stock will go to institutional investors, not to everyday investors, following a Wall Street Fed actions shrouded in confusion
and misperceptions.
system that rewards investment banks' big customers. GM will set aside 5 percent of its new stock for
» More from Washington Post
employees, retirees and car dealers to buy at the offering price. The deadline to sign up was Oct. 22, but the
company has not revealed how many people took the offer.
A new angle
Early Thursday, GM's main joint venture partner in China, SAIC Motor Corp., said it has bought a nearly 1 Watch: Business abroad means
percent stake in GM, buying shares being offered in the IPO at a total cost of nearly $500 million. The jobs back home.
Shanghai-based, state-run SAIC said the share purchase is meant to enhance its cooperation with GM in
China, the world's biggest auto market.

Senior Obama administration officials said Wednesday that the Treasury Department sought to strike a
balance between getting a return for taxpayers and exiting government ownership as soon as practical.

The government has agreed that it will not sell shares outside the IPO for six months after the sale. The
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they would assess their options for selling the
government's stake further.

In the stock offering, the government stands to make $13.6 billion if it sells 412 million shares, as planned, for Education
$33 apiece. It will still have about 500 million shares, a one-third stake. It would have to sell those shares over
the next two to three years at about $53 a share for taxpayers to come out even.
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The total bailout was $50 billion. GM has already paid or agreed to pay back $9.5 billion. That comes from What you need to know before
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In the interview, Reuss said he knows there's pressure to keep performing well and boost the stock price even
further.
Finance
"I can't control share prices," he said. "I'll just go right back to designing and building and selling the world's
best vehicles. That's what we can control."
Get Quotes
The GM debut comes at a time when auto stocks are performing well generally. The stock of GM's crosstown
rival, Ford, has risen steadily this year, from about $10 in January to about $16.50 as the GM IPO MARKET SUMMARY
approached. The stock traded for a dollar in November 2008, and Ford never even took bailout money. Symbol Last Change
Dow 11,007.88 -15.62 -0.14%
As for GM, whether bankruptcy actually fixed the company remains an open question. Before the crisis, it
Nasdaq 2,476.01 0.00 0.00%
was saddled with debt and had a labor contract that called for paying workers even if they weren't working.
S&P 500 1,178.59 0.00 0.00%
Massive pension and health care costs kept GM's fixed costs high, and contracts with dealers meant it would
10 Yr Bond(%) 2.9170% +0.0530
be expensive to shut underperforming brands. Combined, those problems put the automaker in a topsy-turvy
Oil 81.82 +1.38 +1.72%
world where it made more sense to run plants at full bore, even if no one was buying cars.
Gold 1,336.80 0.00 0.00%

Bankruptcy fixed much of that. The company closed 14 of its 47 plants, shuttered or sold off its Hummer,
Saturn, Saab and Pontiac brands, and slashed its debt from about $46 billion to about $8 billion. Union retiree Stock futures point to big gains at open
health care costs are now the United Auto Workers' responsibility, and the controversial jobs program that Cablevision exploring spinoff Rainbow
paid idled workers almost a full salary has been scaled back dramatically. Media

Sears Holdings loss widens in 3rd quarter

GM employs 209,000 people in the United States today, down from 324,000 in 2004. But it's making money.
Before bankruptcy, GM lost about $4,000 per car. Now it makes about $2,000 each. GM says it is poised to More from Yahoo! Finance »
earn about $19 billion a year if the U.S. car market rebounds to 17 million, a record level set last decade.
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Still, questions remain. With this stock offering, GM doesn't rid itself of government intervention. The
government remains a big shareholder.

Financial problems that plagued the automaker for the past decade still don't seem under control: Despite
hiring Chris Liddell, a new CFO from Microsoft known for fixing problems, GM says it's still not sure all the
financial problems were fixed.

___

Tom Krisher in Detroit and Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai contributed to this report.

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1,731 Comments Show: Newest First Sort

 Post a Comment Comments 1 - 10 of 1731 First Prev Next Last

NickyLouse 1 minute ago Report Abuse 0 0

How about a $50B refund to the taxpayers?

HoustonOpinion 2 minutes ago Report Abuse 0 0

This country was well served when jobs and the manufacturing in this country were saved by the
support of GM by this admin. I suggest all T-baggers and Repubs, who oppose it, relocate to
China. Repubs do best by undermining our manufacturing base, take us to war with lies, blow the
cover of CIA operative, approve torture in violation of Geneva convention, which might I add has
been the cornerstone of US Military and create huge trade imbalances with China. And I voted for
McCain – shame on me.

Egg Management Fee 2 minutes ago Report Abuse 1 2

The government should have never bailed out GM. Obama did it for his commie union friends. We
republicans wanted GM to go out of business. Then unemployment would have been worse and we
probably would have taken the senate too. But we have the house and hopefully we can make
things worse and blame Obama for them so we can have a republican president and God will be
happy with us again.

DAVID 2 minutes ago Report Abuse 0 1

I will never own a GM product after this. I have forever written them off.

Tommy 3 minutes ago Report Abuse 0 0

it comes down to contract law. law in peticular. a weapon in the hands of those who want power.
the orderly of society is not what law in this land has become. constitutional right has been vested
in the white house and the cogress and the senate have abtigated their authority to keep it in line.
thus making your rights miniscule. it becomes another piece of paper on the roll when you do not
stand up for it.

DRF 3 minutes ago Report Abuse 0 0

The whole deal is a scam from the get-go ! Who is lining who´s pockets ?

Alic 5 minutes ago Report Abuse 2 0

So the government gets 13.6 billion for half of its stake that it bought for 50 billion. 12+ billion loss
for the taxpayer. Great deal.

Tommy 6 minutes ago Report Abuse 0 0

yeah right.

Pen V. Sword 8 minutes ago Report Abuse 5 0

China and foreign countries are set to own 16% of GM. The citizens of the United States bailed out
GM and have 0% in stock. But $500,000,000 in GM to China?

I guess that election commercial showing the Chinese laughing at us as they take control of our
economy and nation wasn't that far off...

The unions will garner millions for their trust funds to help elect more liberals and Obama in 2012.
GM claimed they "paid back" America in comercial spots, but in truth only PROMISED to pay
back 9 billion so far. Where's the other 40billion? Why can GM reward Unions and China with big
 stock returns and not the people that bailed them out in the first place?
$33 a share? GM is banking on the electric car which won major kudos last week, but if Obama
keeps his promise of causing power companies to raise their rates "...prices necessarily will
skyrocket..." then what good is a car that can't afford to be charged?

GM is using $500,000,000 "we" gave them to build a plant in Mexico, why can't the Mexicans get
stock options? And how about that, hey-GM how many illegal alien Americans are going to work
for your plant in Mexico? How many American jobs are going south with our tax dollars?
Of course then again, if anyone buys this stock-many investors on several business shows advise
against it...$33 today .33 cents tomorrow-they get what they asked for; maybe they could get a
bailout after a poor investment in GM?
BYE BYE GM. And the taxpayers dollars...

Bill 9 minutes ago Report Abuse 5 0

Who wants to buy Government Motors crap? Not me, I already owned GM and loss my money.
Their cars are junk. What is Ford trading for? HELLO!!

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