GM VEERS OFF ROAD: Automaker is ripe for bankruptcy

GM Bankruptcy - is it a "when" or an "if"?

Consider this from the Detroit Free Press. (Yeah, I know I usually refer to the Detroit News, but I like to mix things up every now and then)


Wall Street experts say the unthinkable is more likely than ever before: Michigan's largest company could be bought by a corporate raider like Las Vegas billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, forced to file for bankruptcy, or both.

Getting GM out of bankruptcy could require the same drastic cost-cutting that is racking Delphi, its largest parts supplier.

Lower wages, less generous benefits and fewer jobs would not only be devastating for the automaker's 142,000 U.S. employees. It would hurt everyone who makes parts for GM cars and trucks, sells furniture and homes to GM workers, or treats their children for the flu.

Almost everyone in Michigan has a stake in GM's future.

But the facts are unavoidable: You can now buy every single share of GM stock for a mere $13.5 billion, or about $3.5 billion less than last spring.

Experts say a buyer like Kerkorian could sell GMAC (the division that lends money for everything from cars and homes to Manhattan skyscrapers) for $10 billion to $15 billion, take GM's $15 billion in cash and stock, put GM's automaking business into bankruptcy, and walk away with a huge profit.







GM VEERS OFF ROAD: Automaker is ripe for bankruptcy