The coming GM bankruptcy

What it means for auto workers, and for lawyers.

The "darkest day in American business history" is coming, said Matthew DeBord in The Big Money via Reuters. General Motors will likely file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on or about June 1. Yes, GM has been in a "limbo-like quasi-bankruptcy" for months, and, yes, the giant automaker has made its share of mistakes. But this is a company that helped build America, so you'd "have a cold and mercenary character" not to be saddened by a GM bankruptcy.

This will be perhaps "the biggest and most-watched" bankruptcy filing in legal history, said Micheline Maynard and Michael J. de la Merced in The New York Times. Splitting off GM's good and bad assets -- so desirable brands like Chevrolet and Cadillac can be sold to a new company, while "less-attractive assets" stay in the old GM -- will be extremely complicated. Auto workers may be losing jobs, but the GM bankruptcy "will be putting a lot of lawyers to work."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up