Shares of GM are as deadly as a faulty ignition switch this year, falling almost 21% year-to-date.
One large shareholder was able to unload its stake before year-end — the US government. The Treasury Dept received a 60.8% equity stake in the company in exchange for the 2009 bailout of the company. In 2010, the company launched an IPO at $33/share and the government intermittently sold shares over the following three years and on Dec 9 announced that the last of its shares have been sold.
There are no records on the timing of sales but the final shares were sold 20% above the IPO price and only a few days from the top.
GM shares
Before you pat the govt on the back, consider this. The bailout still cost Washington $15 billion. That’s a big sum but you could argue the jobs saved (and the bureaucracy saved) of not allow GM into bankruptcy was worth it.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government also took a $10 billion stake in GM in the bailout and announced today — on the lows — that it’s planning to sell the stake.
