General Motors

General Motors Corporation {{nyse|GM}}, also known as GM, is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, and Vauxhall.

History

General Motors (GM) was founded in 1908 as a holding company for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant, and acquired Oldsmobile later that year. The next year, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, and Oakland.

Related Topics:
1908 - William C. Durant - Oldsmobile - Cadillac - Elmore - Oakland

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During the 1920s and 1930s General Motors bought out the bus company Yellow Coach, helped create Greyhound bus lines, replaced intercity train transport with buses, and established subsidiary companies to buy out streetcar companies and replace the rail-based services with buses. GM formed United Cities Motor Transit, in 1932. See General Motors streetcar conspiracy for additional details.

Related Topics:
1920s - 1930s - Bus - Yellow Coach - Greyhound bus lines - Streetcar - United Cities Motor Transit - General Motors streetcar conspiracy

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General Motors bought the internal combustion engined railcar builder Electro-Motive Corporation and its engine supplier Winton Engine in 1930, renaming both as the General Motors Electro-Motive Division. Over the next twenty years diesel-powered locomotives and trains, the majority built by GM, largely replaced other forms of traction on American railroads.

Related Topics:
Internal combustion engine - Railcar - Electro-Motive Corporation - Winton Engine - 1930 - General Motors Electro-Motive Division

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On December 31, 1955, General Motors became the first American corporation to make over one billion dollars in a year.

Related Topics:
December 31 - 1955 - Billion - Dollars

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After GM's massive layoffs hit Flint, Michigan, in the 1980s, budding documentary filmmaker and Flint native Michael Moore focused on the company and its chairman and CEO at the time, Roger B. Smith, in his first big hit, Roger & Me.

Related Topics:
Flint, Michigan - Michael Moore - Roger B. Smith - Roger & Me

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A strike began at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan on June 5, 1998, that quickly spread to five other assembly plants and lasted seven weeks.

Related Topics:
Strike - Flint, Michigan - June 5 - 1998

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At one point it was the largest corporation in the United States ever, in terms of its revenues as a percent of GDP. In 1953 Charles Erwin Wilson, then GM president, was named by Eisenhower as Secretary of Defense. When he was asked, during the hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee if as secretary of defense he could make a decision adverse to the interests of General Motors, Wilson answered affirmatively but added that he could not conceive of such a situation "because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa." Later this statement was often garbled when quoted, suggesting that Wilson had said simply, "What's good for General Motors is good for the country." At the time, GM was the one of the largest employers in the world – only Soviet state industries employed more people.

Related Topics:
1953 - Charles Erwin Wilson - Eisenhower - Secretary of Defense - Senate Armed Services Committee - What's good for General Motors is good for the country

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In May 2005, Standard & Poor's downgraded GM's credit rating to junk bond status. See below under financial woes.

Related Topics:
Standard & Poor's - Junk bond

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On April 4, 2005 General Motors Corp. sold its Electro-Motive Division to Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners.

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General Motors Hughes Electronics

Hughes Electronics was formed in 1985 when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for US$5 billion. General Motors merged Hughes Aircraft with its Delco Electronics unit to form GM Hughes Electronics (GMHE). The group then consisted of:

Related Topics:
Hughes Electronics - Hughes Aircraft - Howard Hughes Medical Institute

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• Hughes Aircraft
• Delco Electronics
• Hughes Space and Communications
• Hughes Network Systems

In August 1992 GM Hughes Electronics purchased General Dynamics' Missile Systems business. In 1994 Hughes Electronics introduced DirecTV, the world's first high-powered direct broadcast satellite service. In 1995 Hughes Electronic's Hughes Space and Communications division became the largest supplier of commercial satellites. Also in 1995 the group purchased Magnavox Electronic Systems from the Carlyle Group. In 1996 Hughes Electronics and PanAmSat agree to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with GM Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder.

Related Topics:
1992 - General Dynamics - 1994 - DirecTV - Direct broadcast satellite - 1995 - Hughes Space and Communications - Magnavox Electronic Systems - Carlyle Group - 1996 - PanAmSat

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In 1997 GM transferred Delco Electronics to its Delphi Automotive Systems business. Late in the year the defense operations of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft and missile business) were merged with Raytheon.

Related Topics:
1997 - Delphi Automotive Systems

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Hughes Space and Communications remained independent until 2000, when it was purchased by Boeing and became Boeing Satellite Systems.

Related Topics:
2000 - Boeing - Boeing Satellite Systems

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In 2000 the remaining parts of Hughes Electronics: DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat and Hughes Network Systems were purchased by NewsCorp and renamed The DirecTV Group. Newscorp sold PanAmSat to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in August 2004.

Related Topics:
NewsCorp - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

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