The New York Stock Exchange hosted the General Motors return IPO today. Image: Wikimedia Commons
Just 17 months after the company’s bankruptcy, General Motors had a new initial public offering. The GM stock was offered at $33 a share, and the GM stock price has been steadily rising. The U.S. Government has sold half of its preferred stock in GM, raising about $23 billion.
GM initial public offering
The GM IPO this morning comes after a very rough road for the company. One year and five months after going into bankruptcy and receiving $50 billion from federal taxpayers, GM was able to go public again. On the New York Stock Exchange, General Motors (stock symbol GM), was offered at $33. The CEO of GM got to open the trading day at the NYSE, ringing the opening bell with a 2011 Camaro SS horn blast.
The GM stock price
Right after opening, the GM stock price rose to about $35. Depending on how today goes, this could very well be the largest initial public offering in the history of the New York Stock Exchange. GM originally planned on offering only about $20.1 billion worth of stock today. However, there is a possibility that the size of the initial public offering of GM stock could be expanded by as much as $3 billion. If the GM IPO reaches $23.1 billion in value, it will break the record set in July by the Agricultural Bank of China.
Will GM IPO benefit taxpayers?
The U.S. Treasury has chosen to sell half of its stake in the company. At $33 a share, the GM stock raised about $23 billion for the Treasury. While not quite half of the investment taxpayers made in the company, it is a start. The government would have to sell the remaining half of its stock at $53 per share in order to make up the rest of the investment. Only about 5 percent of the shares are actually being sold to “regular Joe” investors, which is standard for most initial public offerings.
