GM employee stock fund dumps all company shares

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - The manager of General Motors' employee stock fund has sold off all remaining shares of the troubled auto maker, which is closing plants and slashing costs in a bid to avoid bankruptcy.

General Motors revealed in a regulatory filing late Friday that its employee stock-purchase plan has unloaded all shares of the company in favor of short-term and money market investments. The plan's financial manager, State Street Bank and Trust Co., said it began selling off shares of the Detroit automaker in late March "due to the economic climate and the circumstances surrounding GM's business." GM disclosed the development in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

State Street said the General Motors Savings Plan now consists entirely of short-term, cash-based investments. By the end of May, the GM Common Stock Fund will be eliminated as an option for company employees, the investment manager said.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20090425/D97PJ6JG0.html

[bobburgster]

1. No need to read the tea leaves

If that doesn't spell "bankruptcy" nothing does.

[greiner3]

2. *

* See "Selling all houses and hotels" in Monopoly.

[lostnotforgotten]

3. Vote Of Confidence No More

eom

[TwilightZone]

4. Sounds like insider trading.

If it turns out that bankruptcy plans are already in place, the fund manager could get nailed by the SEC.

[AZ Criminal JD]

6. Insider trading?

Talk of GM bankruptcy has been in the public news for at least six months. You don't wait until there is a BK filing before you sell. It would be too late then.

[TwilightZone]

10. Selling at $2 a share is better than 'selling' at zero.

If they file BK, the stock is worthless. If they know that BK is imminent, selling the stock to get at least something for it is better than getting nothing for it.

In fact, the only reason they would seem to have for selling it now is that they know BK is imminent. The point is that if the decision has already been made, the BK is already in process, and they're selling based on not-yet-public information, it's insider trading.

[AZ Criminal JD]

13. Apparently you don't read business pages or listen to business news.

The Obama Treasury Department is organizing a structured BK for GM. It is the most public information about a BK ever.

[Gamey]

8. Insider trading? That happened before this decision.

[northzax]

12. um, bankruptcy has been 'two weeks away'

for several months now. the SEC would have to demonstrate that the outside manager knows something the public doesn't. and they firewall those guys pretty well.

[CountAllVotes]

5. the final dump

they won't walk away with much as the stock is not worth much at all.

Big loss.

I guess they were thinking it might come back but it obviously did not.

:dem: :kick:

[pam4water]

7. Wow

[myrna minx]

9. I grew up in Janesville WI, where GM was the anchor of our town.

This is so heartbreaking.

[ConcernedCanuk]

11. Okaaaaaaaaaaay . . . silly question - WHO'S BUYING the stock

.
.
.

and why ????

hmmmmmm

:freak: