DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government expects to sell thelast of its stake in General Motors by the
end of the year, bringing anend to a sad chapter in the 105-year-old auto giant’s history.TheTreasury
Department, in a statement issued Thursday, said it still owns31.1 million shares of the auto giant, less
than 2 percent. It plans tosell them by Dec. 31, as long as the price holds up.Shares of GMbriefly hit $39
in trading early Thursday. They pulled back a bit bymidday, but still were up 76 cents, or 2 percent, to
$38.45. The shareshave gained 34 percent this year.The government received 912million shares in exchange for
a $49.5 billion bailout during thefinancial crisis in 2008 and 2009. So far it has recovered $38.4 billionof
the money, but selling the remaining shares at Wednesday’s $37.69closing price gets the government $1.17
billion, leaving taxpayers shortby roughly $10 billion.The government says the bailouts of GMand Chrysler
were needed five years ago to save the American autoindustry and more than a million jobs. It never expected
to get all ofthe money back."Had we not acted to support the automotiveindustry, the cost to the
country would have been substantial — in termsof lost jobs, lost tax revenue, reduced economic production
and otherconsequences," Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Tim Bowler said inthe statement.The lack of
government ownership should boost GM’scar and truck sales, North American President Mark Reuss said
Wednesdayat the Los Angeles Auto Show. GM was tagged with the derisive moniker"Government Motors,"
and, at least initially, taking aid from thetaxpayers kept some buyers away from GM vehicles. But company
researchlater showed that subsided.Taxpayers’ initially got a 61 percentstake in GM in exchange for the
bailout, which was needed because GMnearly ran out of cash and may have faced liquidation. Treasurygradually
has sold off its stake since a November 2010 initial publicoffering. The Canadian government, which also
took part in the bailout,still owns about 8 percent of GM stock.Once the U.S. governmentexits, GM will be
free of restrictions on executive pay that came withthe bailout. CEO Dan Akerson has complained that the
restrictions havehurt GM’s ability to recruit executives.GM went throughbankruptcy protection and was
cleansed of most of its huge debt, whilestockholders lost their investments. Since leaving bankruptcy in
2009,GM has been profitable for 15 straight quarters, racking up almost $20billion in net income on strong
new products and rising sales in NorthAmerica and China. It also has invested $8.8 billion in U.S.
facilitiesand has added about 3,000 workers, bringing U.S. employment to 80,000.Thecompany now is sitting on
$26.8 billion in cash and is consideringrestoration of a dividend. It hasn’t paid U.S. federal income
taxessince leaving bankruptcy due to write-offs from accumulated net losses.Copyright 2013 The Associated
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