GM 3rd Quarter Loss

General Motors reported a third quarter loss of $39 billion dollars. GM attributed the loss to a $38.6 billion non-cash charge largely related to the write-off of accumulated deferred tax credits. The loss is the second largest quarterly corporate deficit in the history of the United States. According to Standard and Poor’s, the largest quarterly deficit belongs to AOL, who wrote down $45.5 billion following its troubled merger with Time Warner in 2002.   The reported loss is larger than GM's total market capitilization.  Those who admire unions might ask themselves whether any unionized industry in the United States is doing well at the moment. A serious question for management is whether the shareholders would be better off if the company were liquidated and the cash reserves just distributed to shareholders in a liquidation dividend.