GM CEO: Government looking into when to sell remaining shares

GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson said yesterday that the government is weighing a number of factors as it determines a prudent time to sell its remaining shares of the company that has been dubbed by the critical public as ‘Government Motors’. “I think there are many, many variables in their consideration and they don’t share that with us,” Akerson said in New York yesterday at a conference sponsored by IHS Automotive and the National Automobile Dealers Association.

Although GM had a wildly successful IPO back in November, the government is still a major stakeholder, with about 26% of the company to its name.

Fuel prices and the current crisis in Japan are certainly factors to be weighed when considering the recent drop in stock price. GM however, says that it has responded quickly to the Japanese situation, and is better prepared for a spike in fuel-price than it was in 2008.

Another hurdle was addressed by Akerson; dealer relations. Relationships with the dealer network suffered a major blow after GM moved to eliminate hundreds of dealers from its network. “The hard truth is it was a hard thing to right size our dealer network,” Akerson said. “It was also a necessary component of GM’s transformation and it is making a real difference for us today.”

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Freep