Exactly 12 years have passed since one of the most important "Chapter 11" in US history. That of General Motors was in fact the fourth major bankruptcy in the history of the stars and stripes. The bankruptcy of the first US automaker was in fact officially declared on June 1, 2009. It was at the beginning of the first presidency of Barack Obama, who faced the financial crisis - which swept entire sectors of the economy - replacing in March of that year the historic CEO Rick Wagoner, who had been in office since 2000 and who was changed with Fritz Henderson, personally chosen by the president but in turn removed in 2010, when he was replaced by Edward Whitacre. Today, the CEO is a woman: Mary Barra, the first woman to hold this role, in office since January 2014 and repeatedly considered by Fortune, in the following years, as the most powerful woman in the world.
On June 1, 12 years ago, therefore, it happened that GM took the books to court, thus passing under the receivership of the United States Government and closing, in addition to Pontiac, also the Saturn and Hummer brands and selling Saab Automobile to the Dutch car manufacturer Spyker. The US Treasury invested $2009 billion in General Motors in 49,5 and recovered $39 billion when it sold its shares on December 9, 2013, for a loss of $10,3 billion. The Treasury then invested an additional $17,2 billion in GMAC (now Ally). Ally shares, sold on December 18, 2014, yielded 19,6 billion, with a gain of 2,4 billion. A study by the Automotive Research Center said the bailout saved 1.200.000 million jobs and saved nearly $35 billion in tax revenue.
The ordeal of General Motors, founded in 1908 in Detroit and still one of the largest manufacturers in the world with 155.000 employees, did not however end with that operation. In fact, in 2017 the American company left the European market, selling Opel to the French of PSA (today become Stellantis after the merger with FCA), then in 2018 it was decided the closure of 5 plants in the USA, and employees went from 180.000 to 165.000, then dropped further in subsequent years. In this case, the crisis was caused by President Donald Trump, who had threatened to suppress all subsidies to GM, including those for the electric car, on which the giant was starting to focus more and more.
