GM Records its highest profit ever vol. $7.6 Bill

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ag 47

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DETROIT (AP) — General Motors earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after it nearly collapsed.

Strong sales in the U.S. and China helped the carmaker turn a profit of $7.6 billion, beating its old record of $6.7 billion in 1997 during the pickup and SUV boom.

GM is a vastly different company than it was back then. It's smaller, has less debt and its contract with the United Auto Workers is less costly. But it took a $49.5 billion government bailout and bankruptcy protection in 2009 to cut its bloated costs. The company earned huge a profit even though U.S. sales of cars and trucks were near an historic low of 12.8 million.

In 2012, GM expects to increase its revenue as global sales grow and it charges more for models.

Its ongoing effort to cut costs and take advantage of its global presence are also paying off. In the fourth quarter, costs fell by $500 million. It saved $100 million by cutting some of the dozens of advertising agencies and media managers it uses. It also saved $100 million by centralizing engineering.

"We will build on these results as we bring more new cars, crossovers and trucks to market," CEO Daniel Akerson said.

GM's stock price rose $1.70, or 4 percent, to $26.01 in early afternoon trading.

That's good news for the U.S. government, which still owns 26.5 percent of the company and needs the stock price to rise significantly before it can recoup all the bailout money. The bailout and GM's performance already are contentious issues in this year's presidential campaign.

Still, problems emerged for GM late last year. Its fourth-quarter profit fell 8 percent and missed Wall Street expectations. Europe and South America reported losses. And sales growth in the U.S. slowed even as more Americans bought cars and trucks.

This year, GM expects to make less money per vehicle as the mix of sales shifts to cars from trucks, which have bigger sticker prices
Still, last year was a big success for the company.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $150 billion. Its per-share profit was $4.58. GM made the bulk of its income in North America, where its pretax profit totaled $7.2 billion. International Operations, which includes Asia, made $1.9 billion before taxes, but that was down.

GM sold 9.03 million cars and trucks around the world in 2011, up 7.6 percent from the year before. That helped it reclaim the title of world's largest automaker from Toyota Motor Corp.

GM said 47,500 blue-collar workers in the U.S. will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks in March. The checks are based on the company's North American performance and are a record for the company.

The government still owns 500 million shares of GM, which it got in exchange for the $49.5 billion bailout. Through earlier stock sales and loan repayments, the government has recouped about $22.3 billion of that money.
The remaining shares would have to sell for around $53 each for the government to recoup the rest.
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GM said 47,500 blue-collar workers in the U.S. will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks in March.



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I'm gonna rise up, I'm gonna to kick a little @%#, I'm gonna to kick some @%# in the U.S.A., gonna climb a mountain, gonna sew a flag, gonna fly on an eagle. I'm gonna kick some butt, I'm gonna drive a big truck, I'm gonna rule this world, I'm gonna kick some @%#, I'm gonna rise up, I'm gonna kick a little @%#. ROCK, FLAG, and EAGL-L-L-LE!



USA! USA!

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Originally Posted by Mangudai954

GM said 47,500 blue-collar workers in the U.S. will get $7,000 profit-sharing checks in March.
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I know right. That's a beautiful thing to see the blue-collar workers getting rewarded for their hard work and dedication. This should def boost morale
 
To clarify on the profits sharing im pretty sure GM isn't doing that because they want to, its most likely written into the union contract.
 
Originally Posted by Mangudai954

To clarify on the profits sharing im pretty sure GM isn't doing that because they want to, its most likely written into the union contract.
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Yay Unions
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.. And your avi makes me feel like I'm on shrooms..
 
How many people they had to trim off the bottom line to get to this point tho?
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 props to them, GM back on top.
 
Originally Posted by FIRST B0RN

We need more good news like this.
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The number of workers filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in nearly four years, as a series of reports offered mostly positive signs about the U.S. economy.

Initial unemployment claims dropped by 13,000 to 348,000 in the week ended Feb. 11, the Labor Department said Thursday. The decline in the weekly report was the third in a row and carried new jobless claims to their lowest since early March 2008, before the financial crisis broke out later that year.

Separately, home building rose slightly in January, though not enough to signal that the housing sector is ready to recover from the worst downturn in decades. Meanwhile, wholesale prices rose only modestly in January, as energy and food costs declined, but underlying prices jumped by a larger amount.

"The housing starts and unemployment claims numbers add to the belief that the economy is shifting gears," said economist Joel Naroff, of Naroff Economic Advisors.

The positive government data are likely to fuel a continuing debate among Federal Reserve policy makers about whether to engage in a new round of bond-buying to aid an economy growing only modestly more than two years after the end of a deep recession.

Earlier this month, the government reported non-farm employment climbed by 243,000 jobs in January, the biggest gain in nine months, as the unemployment rate fell to 8.3%.

Thursday's report on the prices producers pay for goods and services showed an overall increase of only 0.1% in January. But core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy, rose a heftier 0.4%. The monthly jump in core inflation could reflect beginning-of-the-year price increases for drugs and other goods rather than an accelerating trend, said Nigel Gault, chief U.S. economist with IHS Global Insight.

The Fed released minutes of the central bank's January meeting on Wednesday. They revealed that officials appeared divided over launching more bond buying, which would seek to spur investment by pushing down long-term interest rates.

Home construction last month increased 1.5% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 699,000 homes from December, up nearly 10% from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said. The increase was driven by an 8.5% gain in multifamily homes with at least two units, a volatile part of the market. Some economists also attributed January's increase to a mild winter, which made starting construction easier.

Construction of single-family homes, which made up about 73% of housing starts, fell by 1% on a monthly basis, though it was still up by more than 16% from the same month a year earlier.

"Home builders are shaking off the shackles of the last five years and are beginning to contribute to [economic] growth," said Paul Dales, an economist with Capital Economics. "That said, the housing sector is currently not big enough to set the economy alight."

In an encouraging sign for housing, the share of home owners behind on their mortgages declined to the lowest level in three years during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to a report released Thursday.

The share of loans in foreclosure, however, remained near the highest levels of the housing crisis, which means the sector could face continued pressure as banks take back and resell homes.

The survey, released by the Mortgage Bankers Association, showed that 7.6% of residential mortgages were at least 30 days past due on their payments at the end of 2011. That was down from 8.3% a year earlier and from a peak of 10% in early 2010, but it is still much higher than the historical level of about 5%.


Still have work to do.
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Doesn't anyone see the commercials they play during the superbowl? The ones OUR tax dollars pay for?

If you don't buy a Chevy or a Chrysler you're basically a terrorist.

It's 'halftime in America' friends.
 
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