GM in *intense* preparations for bankruptcy

GM preparing to split the company in two, with a new, leaner GM made up of its more successful brands emerging

By Alex Ricciuti
April 7, 2009 11:43 PM
Filed Under: American, Corporate/Financial, General Motors, Industry

What may very well be the inevitable is upon GM and the company is finally acknowledging it. GM is preparing itself for bankruptcy.

According to Reuters, GM is currently conducting an "intense" and "earnest" effort to prepare for the possibility of a bankruptcy filing. Sources close to the troubled Detroit automaker report that GM is considering splitting the company in two, with a "new" GM made up of its more successful brands and operations, while an "old" company consisting of its unprofitable units is splintered off.

A new GM would become unburdened by the huge amount of unsecured debt held by bondholders (estimated at 27.5 billion US dollars), who would lose much of the value of their bonds in the event of a bankruptcy. The new company would still assume some creditor debt and other obligations currently on GM's books, depending on the arrangement reached in the bankruptcy proceeding.

GM's new chief executive Fritz Henderson says he still hopes to spare the company from bankruptcy and restructure without it. But upon becoming CEO recently, Henderson said he would be ready to do it if it became necessary.

 

Source: reuters.com

Comments

theduderino
April 8, 2009 12:30 AM
Here in Spain if you "prepare" a company for bankrupcy this way (splitting company into 2 others, where one becomes profitable and the other doesn't) YOU GO TO JAIL. I hope GM, Ford and and all this campanies disappear as soon as possible.

Long life Volkswagen and Toyota. :)

boodi12
April 8, 2009 12:34 AM
Here in Spain !! you dant have any company who make a good cars !

Murcielago2006
April 8, 2009 3:27 AM
And from the looks of it, America will also be without any car companies!! The guy was talking about bankruptcy for any corporation in general. You don't have to be rude about it.

pzigly
April 8, 2009 12:54 AM
Corporations were initially formed to serve the community as they make profit. My, how times have changed....

freeway
April 8, 2009 9:10 PM
you know the words... what goes up must come down... it's the evolution law... exactly like other big brands (Packard, Studebaker - just remember the Golden Hawk, etc, etc) they will ultimately fail... who knows what will be in 50 years from now... maybe Segway will be the next biggest "car" producer in the world :D

Viking79
April 8, 2009 1:23 AM
"Reclaim their country from the Japs"?!?! Damn dude, Toyota Trucks are made in Texas, I believe the Accords are assembled somewhere in Ohio, and naturally Nissan has production in the US as well. Also the US is the largest consumer of Toshiba, Panasonic, Sanyo, and Sony electronics. If people in the US didn't want to buy Japanese products, they never had to; free market economy and all...

dude
April 8, 2009 1:41 AM
right and sadly the largest corporation of car building going under because of the free market!!! They got huge tax breaks for bringing in their production and all that hurts is us that do not work for them we have to catch the fall!! We need to buckle down in the US glad u spend all ur money on over seas product ur a great american!!!

radmeister
April 8, 2009 4:01 AM
Hey man you think the germans or japanese wouldn't have the same problems if the americans built better cars for the same price? Don't give me this pathetic excuse of blame the japs and germans, and the people that buy their better product...That's like a kid in school complaining to the teacher that the test was too hard because he didn't study and failed, yet the students that studied got 100%. The market is driven by consumers that believe it or not even in the US are cumulatively smart. To buy an american car vs the competition and pay the same price you would have to be retarded. You have fallen for the good ol CNN propaganda machine, protectionism doesn't help the economy in the long run, and it permanently destroys the consumer. If the US right now can't afford to pay 1/10th the price for something made in china what makes you think they could afford to buy american, at least you get taxes on that made in china product which is probably a higher % than the margin the retailer makes. So quit crying and blaming your failing grades on the kids that studied.


Edited by user on April 8, 2009 at 4:02 AM
awhk
April 8, 2009 5:59 AM
Totally agreed with raidmeister. Well said.

WildMaverick1200
April 8, 2009 2:45 AM
It just had to happen. Honestly, there's no way they can save their sorry asses from all those debts with an overpriced hybrid called "volt"

joshg_5
April 8, 2009 3:41 AM
As much as I'm excited to see these companies finally get what was coming to them, it's going to be sad to see some great cars disappear... ie: CTS-V, Corvette ZR1, Camaro, Most Buicks, some Saturns etc.

carcrazy1234
April 8, 2009 3:58 AM
definitely not sad that the buick brand and saturn are falling :P buick... i dunno, very boring cars really, they really need to spruce that brand up a bit. saturn... well that was just a fail from the start..... however, i don't think cadillac, chevy, and buick are on the chopping block. buick is very successful in asia. VERY lol

hata0101
April 8, 2009 5:57 AM
oh my dear God...this bankruptcy story of GM drag too long. just let it go please...i really don't care if it fail. stupid company with stupid CEOs & top executives made lots of stupid mistakes & decisions, designed & built stupid products by those stupid & greedy people from UAW. bound to be fail. yes, don't cry like a baby if you got failed grade 'coz you didn't studied hard enough. don't cry like a baby & complain everything made in China...you know why? 'coz it cast way less to manufacture there! don't blame on cheap labor or something, lots of people over there are very happy to have a job! it's the other way around, the greedy union workers here hurt us. they made the manufacturing cost much higher than usual, & constantly looking for MORE. so, it's NOT cheap labor in China, it's TOO EXPENSIVE labor here!

muellr
April 8, 2009 7:10 AM
the only sad part is all the taxpayers (our) money goes down the drain! The idea to create a "bad bank" or "bad carcompany" is the biggest scandal in modern times, just offload all your stinking credit and go live happy making millions, f* can't belive this - just go out and claim colonies again, I guess India was a free state long enough -


Edited by user on April 8, 2009 at 7:10 AM
Viking79
April 8, 2009 7:11 AM
Radmeister, I'm glad you chimed in here. I seem to have a very similar line of thinking to you. Also, hata0101 I agree with you as well; the legacy costs bestowed by the UAW mean that the products will inevitably suffer as money that should be going into R&D or quality parts is instead paying for the healthcare of a spouse of a guy who last worked for GM 15 years ago. As for dude, "glad u spend all ur money on over seas product ur a great american!!! ";

1)I'm not American 2)Don't worry about the punctuation and grammar - you'll learn that when you hit grade 5.

Targa_Florio
April 8, 2009 9:26 AM
Stop blaming Unions. In Europe they have much more power in countries which have much more social laws, and as far as I know German & French car manufacturers are still up!

CheeseGrinder
April 8, 2009 9:31 AM
Its about time. I believe the beginning of the end for GM was at the end of WW2, when the American's imposed restrictions on military development against the Japanes and Germans. So they tucked into the automotive and electrical industry. Now they're the leaders of those trades. The yanks went off policing the world, creating mind blowing machines of war and construction (which the world needed). In doing this they neglected their automtoive development, also the low standards required by most Americans had alot to do with this. As long as they had a big V8 and heaps of cup holders they were happy...until they woke up and realised their cars were rubbish. Interesting how thing end up.

amirbooboo
April 8, 2009 4:21 PM
GM = the best fack all

scratchy996
April 8, 2009 7:39 PM
yep , GM got facked alright.

quepasok
April 9, 2009 1:55 AM
Hi there, I don't even know when the end of GM started but just think about their products and see: If Honda or Toyota offer the Accord or Camry with a 3.0 and 240 hp or the newer 3.5 engines with 270 hp with a beautiful system that disengage half of the cylinders that are not being used (or shouldn't be used during traffic) in the other hand we see Chrysler, Ford and GM with the Cirrus, the Fusion or the Malibu offering boring and bigger engines with no technological advantages what so ever, so if you are buying a car, just for common sense you will choose the one that offers more for the same price, all American brands stills offer engines and technology that was new at least 10 years ago, while germans, japanese and the smart and tenacious coreans offering products with the last technology for a good price. Just common sense, and that happens with everything, I mean everything and you can consult this with Microsoft and Apple and you will be able to tell me how the consumer chose the product he wanted.

View Comment Rules

Add Comment

You are modifying your comment

Exisiting User

Username
Password
remember me

New Users

Username
Email
Password
Comment

Your account

username
password

Other links