GM Shares Top Level Not Seen Since 2011
Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, topping their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years.
Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, topping their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years.
General Motors' net income fell 14 percent to $865 million in the first quarter, weighed down by losses in Europe and weaker earnings in North America.
General Motors boosted Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson's pay package by 44 percent last year, as the value of his stock awards significantly increased.
GM has been cleaning up its act and has the profits to show for it. But the competition has never been stiffer, all over the world, and GM's cars will have to be top-notch to assure the success of a turnaround.
On Sunday, General Motors announced the sudden "resignation" of its high-profile marketing chief, Joel Ewanick, who oversaw its $4.5 billion advertising budget. So what led to the downfall of this major figure in GM's turnaround?
Or will it disappoint? Investors -- and taxpayers -- will be watching on Thursday, when GM posts its latest earnings. Despite analyst expectations of a full-year profit, the automaker has warned that fourth-quarter results will fall "significantly" from previous periods.
Back in 2009, General Motors applied to the Department of Energy for $14.4 billion in loans to help it manufacture more fuel-efficient vehicles. Today, with the automaker making big strides in turning around its business, GM said it no longer needs or wants the money.
General Motors has repurchased $2.1 billion in preferred stock from the federal government, further reducing the amount the automaker owes taxpayers following last year's bailout. The latest transaction cuts the government's stake in the rebounding carmaker to 33% from 61.5%.
Now that General Motors is on better financial footing and the automaker's initial public offering of stock is behind it, CEO Daniel Akerson is reportedly seeking to have government restrictions on executive pay eased.
Following General Motors' historic return as a publicly traded company Thursday, President Obama said the U.S. government, despite the many critics, is on track to more than recoup the nearly $50 billion it invested in the Detroit automaker.
Considering where the iconic carmaker has been in recent years, the pending IPO -- and robust investor demand for shares -- is a remarkably positive step. But GM still has plenty of problem spots that will need fixing if this historic event is to have lasting meaning.
Buoyed by stronger demand for pickups and crossover, GM said today that October sales increased 3.5% compared to a year ago. Excluding its discontinued brands, sales of Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet models rose 13% for the month.
General Motors plans to invest $190 million in its Lansing Grand River assembly plant where it will build a new Cadillac model, resulting in 600 new jobs and the addition of a second shift.
It's not unusual for a departing chief exec to maintain some involvement with the corporation he or she led, usually by holding onto or taking a position on the company's board of directors. That can be a bad idea. Consider GM's Ed Whitacre.
The federal government's stake in banking-giant Citigroup presents a conflict of interest in General Motors' pending initial public offering, the automaker said Thursday.














