A cliffhanger to see if a GM turnaround succeeds

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/business/33356-a-cliffhanger-to-see-if-a-gm-turnaround-succeeds-

NEW YORK, July 26 – Saturday, May 30, offered the kind of warm, sunny afternoon that rain-soaked New Yorkers had longed for all spring.

In the theatre district, crowds were gathering to catch a glimpse of Barack and Michelle Obama, who were planning to attend a Broadway show so the president could fulfill his campaign promise to his wife of a date night in Manhattan.

Fourteen blocks north, high up in a boardroom at 767 Fifth Avenue, Fritz Henderson was about to make the toughest decision of his life, and one that Obama and his advisers had seemingly foisted upon him.

As the clock ticked toward 6pm, Henderson told directors of General Motors that management believed the struggling auto company’s only path was into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

“I’d been at GM 25 years, I’d been the CEO 60 days, and here I was, recommending that GM file for bankruptcy,” Henderson said in an interview last week.

Henderson, Obama and the scores of lawyers, financial experts and restructuring advisers whose careers were at stake were guiding GM along a financial, political and emotional tightrope a few months ago, and their decisions shaped what GM has become today. And it is not yet clear whether the risks they took, and the government’s enormous investment, will pay off.

FULL story at link.