GM enters bankruptcy filing - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Monday’s Chapter 11 filing by the 101-year-olr automaker — once the world’s biggesgt company — is among the largest in U.S. history and largest-ever U.S. manufacturing bankruptcy. Chaptet 11, which allows the compangy to operate while protectedr fromits creditors, pushes GM into a fast-track bankruptcg and provides $30 billiojn of additional taxpayer funds to restructure itself. Generaol Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said in a prepared statement that GM was beintg reinvented and that the compan y is ready for the jobat hand.
"Thew economic crisis has caused enormouas disruption in theauto industry, but with it has come the opportunitt for us to reinvent our We are going to do it once and do it The court-supervised process we are pursuing provides us with powerfulo tools to accelerate and complete our reinvention, as well as stron safeguards for our customers and our he said. The GM plan as detailed by U.S. officialsw would allow a much smaller GM to emergw from court protection within 60 to 90 GM also plans to close11 U.S. facilitie s and idle another three plants by the endof 2010. The automakeer has not provided an updatef target for job cuts but was looking toeliminate 21,000 U.S.
factory jobs from the 54,000 union members it now employs. Also not immediatelt clear is what GM’s bankruptcy filing will mean for Minnesota'sx auto dealers, said Scott executive director ofthe . “Now it’ss all in court. It’s a big, momentousa day, but we have to wait to see how this all shakexs out before we reallyknow what’s GM recently notified at least 23 locapl dealerships that their franchises agreements would not be renewed beyond October 2010 as part of a plan to cut 1,100 dealers nationwide. Now GM says it plansw to expand the cuts toinclude 2,10o dealerships, or about 40 percent of its nationall dealer network.
“If you just take thoses numbers and apply themto Minnesota, we coulde lose another 30 guys,” Lambert said. Genera l Motors employs 92,000 in the United States and is indirectlty responsiblefor 500,000 retirees. The U.S. government would hold a 60 perceny financial interest in a reorganized GM and the UAW wouldc takea 17.5 percent The governments of Canads and the province of Ontarioo have agreed to a 12 percen t ownership stake in exchange for financial aid. GM bondholder s would get 10 percent.