General Motors (GM) 01 (Jun 08 - Jul 10 )

[kennynah]

is this GMAC the one that started the lending scheme in singapore?

[ucypmas]

GE Capital, i think?

GE Capital is a subsidiary of General Electric Co.

[kennynah]

oh ya...i got mixed up.. thanks ucypmas

[kennynah]

6Jan09 244am +8gmt

GM just reported Dec vehicle sales down 31.4%....duno means good or bad...

[millionairemind]

Jan 6, 2009
GM to get $7.9b in Jan

WASHINGTON - GENERAL Motors Corp will receive a second S$5.4 billion (S$7.9 billion) installment of its government loan on Jan 16, the US Treasury said on Monday.

In a transaction report for its bailout fund, the Treasury said it has approved the release of a total of US$9.4 billion for GM, including US$4 billion disbursed on Dec 31 and US$5.4 billion to be funded on Jan 16.

The Treasury has agreed to lend GM another US$4 billion, but those funds would come from a second US$350 billion tranche of the US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that Congress could block.

GM on Monday reported a 31 per cent decline in December US sales compared with a year earlier, capping a 23 per cent decline for all of 2008. -- THOMSON REUTERS

[iam802]

General Motors May Not Require Further U.S. Loans to Survive

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... refer=home

By Jeff Green

Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. has enough government loans to cover the worst-case scenario it described last month and says it won’t need more if the economy holds up.

The U.S. Treasury has pledged as much as $13.4 billion in aid to help GM pay its bills and $6 billion to prop up lender GMAC LLC, which GM relies on for auto loans and dealer support. President George W. Bush agreed to the rescue after the biggest U.S. automaker said it wouldn’t have enough money to pay bills in December.

“The U.S. Treasury’s $13.4 billion bridge loan to GM, coupled with the separate transaction for GMAC, meets our liquidity needs under the scenarios outlined in our December plan to Congress,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said yesterday.

GM is trying to win concessions from its biggest union, cut its debt level in half, and trim brands and dealerships as part of a restructuring plan to show it will be able to repay the money. A progress report is due Feb. 17 to the Treasury Department, and a final report is due March 31. If the plan doesn’t pass government scrutiny, GM has to repay the loans.

“It all depends on a lot of difficult-to-forecast factors, like the size of the market,” said John Casesa, a former Merrill Lynch auto analyst who’s now a partner at consulting firm Casesa Shapiro Group in New York. GM’s market share, the health of the economy and action by competitors are all unknowns, he said.

GM’s Worst Case

The Detroit automaker said Dec. 2 that its worst-case scenario for 2009 U.S. auto sales is 10.5 million vehicles. GM reiterated Jan. 5 that U.S. sales will range from 10.5 million to 12 million this year, based on the current economic expectation.

GM received the first $4 billion Dec. 31 from the Troubled Asset Relief Program administered by Treasury. GM is spending that money to pay bills, mostly to its 3,000 suppliers, said spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem.

The automaker is due to receive an additional $5.4 billion this month. Should Congress agree to release a second $350 billion in TARP funds, GM will get $4 billion more in February.

The Treasury Department also gave Chrysler LLC $4 billion Jan. 2 to help it stay in business and said Dec. 31 it has drafted broad guidelines for aid to the auto industry that would let officials provide funds to any company they deem important to making or financing cars.

With both companies saying they were only weeks away from insolvency, the White House stepped in after a compromise plan backed by Bush and House Democrats stalled in the Senate, raising the prospect of a collapse that would have weakened a U.S. economy already in recession.

Vehicle Sales Fall

U.S. automakers are struggling to cut costs after U.S. sales last year fell to 13.2 million units, the lowest level since 1992, as a global credit crunch hurt buyers’ ability to get loans and the slowing economy sapped demand.

Chrysler, the No. 3 U.S. automaker, said Dec. 2 it would run out of cash early this year without the loans. Auburn Hills, Michigan-based Chrysler finished the third quarter with $6.1 billion and needs at least $3 billion to operate, Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli told Congress Nov. 18.

GM’s losses have amounted to almost $73 billion since 2004. Chrysler says its first-half loss, the most recent information available, totaled $1.08 billion.

Chrysler is 80.1 percent owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, which also owns 51 percent of GMAC.

Because it’s closely held, Chrysler isn’t required to release financial results and Chrysler said yesterday it still doesn’t plan to release financial information to the public after getting $4 billion in U.S. loans last month. The terms of the loans require it to release that information to the Treasury department.

If GM or Chrysler is unable to develop a viable business plan, the U.S. loan terms also allow the funds to be used as so- called debtor in possession funding to keep operating in bankruptcy. Both automakers have said bankruptcy would result in their liquidation because they wouldn’t be able to get such loans from private banks.

[kennynah]

GM to cut 10,000 salaried jobs
2/10/2009 1:25 PM ET
(RTTNews) - General Motors Corp. (GM: News ) said Tuesday that it will cut 10,000 salaried jobs this year, as the automaker is forced to restructure its operations for long-term viability amid a sharp drop in global vehicle sales.

The job cuts are part of the restructuring plan plan the Detroit, Michigan-based automaker submitted to U.S. Congress in December to secure emergency funding from the federal government.

The company said it will reduce its worldwide salaried workforce by about 14% to 63,000 from the current level of 73,000. In the U.S., about 3,400, or 12%, of GM's 29,500 salaried employees will be eliminated. The majority of the reductions are expected to take place by May 1.

GM also announced a temporary pay cut for a majority of U.S. salaried employees. Starting May 1 and effective through the end of the year, U.S. executives will see a 10% cut in their base pay, while many other salaried employees face a 3% to 7% salary cut.

The company said it is currently reviewing compensation and benefits its workers outside the United States receive.

GM's latest move comes ahead of a February 17 deadline to submit the US government its plans of long-term commercial viability, including business restructuring, return to profit and loan repayment.

GM has received $9.4 billion from the Treasury Department and expects to get $4 billion more, but the government can demand repayment March 31 if it determines the company can't become viable.
According to reports, GM's advisors, the United Auto Workers and bondholders are in meetings this week in Detroit to negotiate agreements that cut unsecured debt by two-thirds and win concessions on labor costs.

GM's job cut announcement also came a day after the company said its Vice Chairman for Global Product Development Robert Lutz will retire at the end of this year. The automaker appointed Thomas Stephens, its Executive Vice President of Global Powertrain and Quality, to succeed Lutz as Vice Chairman for Global Product Development.

GM has been closing plants and laying off workers to cut production amid a sharp drop in vehicle demand in the U.S. market.

GM recently lost the title of the world's largest automaker to Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. (TM). GM sold 8.36 million cars and trucks worldwide in 2008, down from 9.37 million cars and trucks sold during 2007. The year 2009 did not begin on a good note either. GM reported a 48.8% drop in January U.S. vehicle sales.

GM shares are currently trading at $2.80, down 3 cents or 1.06%.

[winston]

When you can get "free money" from the tax-payers, why stretch your brain to look for a solution ? They have so many assets that they can sell b4 they go bankrupt..

========================================================

GM says has no plan to sell China JV stake to SAIC

SHANGHAI - General Motors Corp has no plan to sell shares in its flagship carmaking joint venture with China's SAIC Motor to SAIC, Henry Wong, a spokesman for General Motors China, said on Friday.

[iam802]

GM posts massive loss, auditor may question viability

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/ ... 3220090226

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp posted a nearly $31 billion loss on Thursday for 2008 and said its auditors were likely to cast doubt on its ability its viability as it seeks an expanded federal bailout to stay afloat.

GM, which asked for up to $30 billion of U.S. government aid, posted losses in all of its major units during the fourth quarter and it burned through $6.2 billion of cash. Revenue plunged by more than a third.

The automaker also warned its pension plans for hourly and salaried workers were underfunded by about $12.4 billion as of the end of 2008, raising the risk of an even greater funding gap in the years ahead.

The release of the grim results came on the same day that GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner and other senior executives were scheduled to meet with members of the task force headed by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Larry Summers.

"They are in fact-gathering mode right now, and so we are here in order to respond to their questions," GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young told reporters.

"This is not a negotiation session by any means, they are going to continue to gather facts and continue to ask for clarifications in terms of our submissions," he said.

Shares of GM dropped 8 percent in pre-market trade to $2.35.

GM said it could receive a "going concern" notice from auditors when it files its annual report for 2008 with U.S. securities regulators by the middle of March.

The company, which took $6 billion in charges to shut down North American plants as sales tumbled last year, posted a net loss of $30.9 billion for 2008.

That marks the second-largest loss for the 100-year-old automaker behind only the $38.7 billion loss for 2007. GM has lost $82 billion over the past four years and cut 92,000 jobs over that period.

GM ended December with $14 billion in cash and including the first $4 billion in loans received from the U.S. Treasury. It received another $9.4 billion in aid in the current quarter.

GM's fourth-quarter net loss widened to $9.6 billion from $722 million.

Excluding $3.7 billion in one-time charges, GM posted a quarterly loss of $9.65 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Reuters Estimates had forecast a loss per share of $7.40 on that adjusted basis.

Revenue fell to $30.8 billion from $46.8 billion.

'CONTAGION' EFFECT

Young said the deep loss for the fourth-quarter reflected how a slump in auto sales that began in the U.S. market had become a global crisis. GM posted losses on its auto operations in every region in the quarter, including Asia.

"When we talk about contagion, what we saw was that the credit crisis was starting to spread," Young told reporters.

Analysts have said the key to valuing GM's shares and debt is the progress the company is making in crucial restructuring talks with creditors, including the United Auto Workers union.

Existing shareholder equity could be sharply diluted as existing bondholders and the union are offered shares in a recapitalized company in an attempt to reduce GM's cash drain from its debt obligations.

GM has said it needs the next round of government funding as soon as next month as it struggles to restructure. GM cut 19,000 jobs in the United States and another 4,000 jobs in other regions in 2008.

GM, like its smaller rival Chrysler LLC, faces pressure to wrap up concession talks with the UAW on how to cut funding promised to a healthcare trust fund.

GM has offered the UAW up to $10.2 billion in new equity in order to give up a cash claim on half of the $20.4 billion it is owed for the trust fund.

The UAW reached a deal with Ford Motor Co this week on terms to restructure its own retiree healthcare debt to the union on similar terms.

But GM's parallel negotiations with its bondholders have been more difficult. GM bondholders have been asked to take a payout equal to just $9 billion of the $27 billion that they are collectively owed.

Representatives of the debtholders have said GM's plan does not go far enough to reduce the automaker's debt and have asked for steps to safeguard their remaining investment in the company.

Young said GM could not comment on its negotiations with bondholders ahead of an end-March deadline to launch the debt exchange.

"We are getting to a more sensitive stage in terms of the whole bond exchange process here," he said. "From our perspective, we are marching toward the March 31 deadline."

[iam802]

So, the State is interfering with the running of the company now.

Maybe, it's a golden parachute.....resign now...you get your share. After which, if further loans still cannot save the company, we are going to bankrupt it.

===
GM chief Wagoner to resign at Obama's request

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/g ... dist=msr_2

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is resigning from his leadership of the troubled automaker at the request of the Obama administration, reports said Sunday.

Wagoner's departure is part of the restructuring agreement between GM (GM) and the U.S. government, which will
clear the way for the company to receive further federal loans, the reports said.

CNN and The Wall Street Journal reported that Chief Operating Officer Frederick "Fritz" Henderson would serve as CEO until a permanent replacement is found, with the Journal report added that longtime director Kent Kresa would serve as interim chairman.

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times reported that Wagoner's departure was set as a precondition for the restructuring agreement. Read the full WSJ.com story on Wagoner's resignation.

The ousting of Wagoner came as Obama administration officials said the government will give GM and fellow automakers Chrysler LLC enough capital to work with stakeholders to craft more aggressive strategies but warned that a "quick and surgical" bankruptcy may be each company's best chance for survival. Read full story on administration's findings from GM, Chrysler.

GM already has received approximately $13.4 billion in Treasury loans and said in February it needs up to $16.4 billion in additional aid.
A statement about the future plans for Wagoner -- who served as GM's CEO since 2000 -- is expected to be issued after President Barack Obama gives an address Monday on his plans for the U.S. auto industry, according to the New York Times.

Separately, Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal said that Chrysler LLC Chief Executive Robert Nardelli is unlikely to meet the same fate as Wagoner.

But The Wall Street Journal reported that the government plans to provide Chrysler with capital for 30 days to cut a workable arrangement with Fiat SpA, the Italian auto maker that has a tentative alliance with Chrysler