GM Barrels Out of Bankruptcy

With $48 billion less debt and healthcare obligations, post-bankruptcy General Motors Co. is open for business today.

The “new” company will have four brands — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC — and will be owned by the United Auto Workers’ union, and the U.S. and Canadian governments. The company plans to launch 10 vehicles in the U.S. in the next 18 months, and ratchet down the number of nameplates to 34 from 48.

With the 40-day bankruptcy proceedings complete, Ed Whitacre Jr., former chairman and chief executive of telecom giant AT&T, has taken his post as GM’s chairman. And CEO Fritz Henderson said the company could go public as soon as next year.

Meanwhile, the assets left behind — namely, pension and healthcare liabilities and the brands GM plans to shed — could take months or years to be sorted out in bankruptcy court.