Government selling GM shares

last updated 8 January 2015

The government is expected to unload as much as one-third of its stake in General Motors when the auto behemoth goes public later this month. Sources told The Washington Post that the Treasury Department would sell about $7 billion worth of its shares, reducing the ownership stake in the company to about 35 percent, down from 61 percent.

The government became the majority stockholder last year when it invested some $50 billion in the company to save it from liquidation. Under new leadership operating with little interference from Washington, GM is now profitable, and the government plans to sell off even more of its GM shares next year.