Republican’s probable nominee Mitt Romney said he would dispose of the US government’s remaining stake in General Motors should he come out victorious in the upcoming presidential election this November. In an interview with The Detroit News, Romney said that there is no reason for the federal government to continue holding onto its stake in GM. Romney told The News that President Obama is delaying the sale of its GM shares to try and avoid the story that the taxpayer took another loss. Romney, a critic of the U.S. government's bailout of the auto industry, pledged that he would make GM independent from the government and operate for the interests of the consumers, the enterprise and its workers -- and not for political considerations of government officials. Romney also plans to conduct a review of the Obama administration’s plan to nearly double the fuel economy target.
The US government, through the U.S. Treasury, injected nearly $50 billion in fresh capital into GM in 2008 and 2009. The government has held a 26 percent stake in GM since its initial public offering in November 2010. If the Treasury decides to dispose of its stake in GM today, it would stand to lose billions of dollars on the bailout if the shares were sold today, given its $21.25 per share price in New York Stock Exchange trading Tuesday. GM’s shares had a IPO price of $33 a share.
Tim Massad, the assistant treasury secretary in charge of the U.S. stake in GM, told The News in May that the Obama administration has yet to decide when it will sell the stake.
