GM CEO: Repayment of Bailout Could Take Years

Washington DC September 17, 2010; The AIADA newsletter reported that it will take a couple of years for taxpayers to get back the billions they spent bailing out General Motors, but the company has a goal of returning the money, GM's new CEO said Thursday.

USA Today reports that CEO Daniel Akerson told reporters that the government won't be repaid with the company's initial public stock offering, which could happen later this year, but couldn't answer more specific questions about the sale. GM has repaid $6.7 billion of the money the government supplied last year, and the remaining $43 billion was converted to a 61 percent ownership stake. GM has filed paperwork starting the process to sell stock to the public, and a sale could come as early as mid-November.

President Obama also has said all taxpayer money will be returned, but spokesmen later said he meant the money his administration pumped into GM. Akerson, who replaces Whitacre as board chairman at the end of the year, also said he hopes GM will be able to create more jobs in the future.

GM will announce today that it's recalling 400 laid-off workers, less than 1 percent of its global work force, to make four-cylinder engines at a plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. Click here for coverage of incoming GM CEO Daniel Akerson’s thoughts on the automaker’s repayment of federal bailout funds.