Answer to Question #109357 in Finance for C Guerra

Question

From a financial and economic point of view, was the GM bail out a good option and why?

Answer 1

GM's revenue was not a good option or a bad option, it was a forced option to leave the company at least somehow afloat.If there was no salvation, Ford, Toyota and Honda would have gained even greater market share.

Firstly, they have not worked on a competitive basis for years. Toyota and Honda continued to build up their American plants, providing jobs for American auto workers.

Secondly, the General Motors Acceptance Corporation was established in 1919 to provide loans for the purchase of General Motors cars. It expanded to include insurance, online banking, mortgage transactions and commercial finance, and its mortgage operations were full of toxic debts by 2009.

Therefore, the help of the US government was required. The government allocated GM $ 30.1 billion. The main purpose of the rescue was to maintain jobs at GM. But GM still had to reduce its employment and production.

At the end of 2010, GM held a public offering of shares, which became one of the largest in history. During the placement, the US and Canadian governments, which became major shareholders in bankruptcy in 2009, sold their shares for a total of $ 23.1 billion.

Since mid-2012, the company has acquired a controlling stake in the famous German professional equipment factory Hesler, becoming its full owner. This made it possible to establish a separate industry for the production of equipment for construction and gardening.

In 2017, GM still sold Opel and Vauxhall to Groupe PSA. In November 2018, GM announced the closure of three unprofitable plants in North America that Tesla intends to acquire.

The loss of GM was similar to the loss of Pan Am, TWA, and other companies that had a strong American legacy but lost their competitiveness. It might have pulled the hearts of America, but would not have hurt the economy. As a result, saving the auto industry was not critical to the US economy, such as saving AIG or the banking system.