GM Posts 4Q, Full-Year Loss
General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it took a fourth-quarter loss of $722 million and that it enhanced a buyout plan for its 74,000 U.S. United Auto Workers employees, Bloomberg reported.
The $38.7 billion loss for 2007 was the largest annual loss ever for an automotive company, the Associated Press reported.
The full-year loss included a $39 billion expense in the third quarter related to a tax-accounting change, Bloomberg said.
The worker buyout offers would provide payments of up to $62,500 for the most-skilled workers with at least 30 years service, Bloomberg reported. It enhances a payout offered to workers in 2006.
GM would not say how many workers it hopes to cut, but under its new contract with the UAW, it will be able to replace up to 16,000 workers doing non-assembly jobs with new employees who will be paid half the old wage of $28 per hour, AP reported.
The loss is the third consecutive for Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner, who expects any comeback in the first half of this year to be slowed by a declining U.S. auto market, Bloomberg reported.
The automaker is offsetting declining North American sales with growth in Asia, Russia and Latin America, Bloomberg said.
