He left a company with an essentially hopeless balance sheet, one that ultimately gave it no choice to but file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which it did in June.
His top lieutenant, Fritz Henderson, immediately took the CEO job, although he did not become chairman.
Henderson had taken a 30% pay cut for 2009 as part of the bailout. But when he became chief executive, he was not required to take just $1 in salary. Instead, his salary for this year remains just shy of $1.3 million.
Through the bankruptcy process, GM shed four brands, two-thirds of its debt, thousands of workers and several plants, all as part of its plans to cut costs and return to profitability in the next few years. The company has borrowed $50 billion from taxpayers.
Last week, GM emerged from bankruptcy as a new privately held enterprise, formally called General Motors Co., which is 60.8% owned by the federal government.
Shares in the old entity, General Motors Corp., ceased trading Friday.
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ken.bensinger@latimes.com
