General Motors today filed for bankruptcy protection, vowing to emerge stronger than ever.
The storied automaker listed $82.29 billion in assets and $172.81 billion in debts. The company also said it would idle or close 14 of its 47 U.S. manufacturing plants by 2012.
The Obama administration had been pushing GM toward bankruptcy as a viable way to restructure the troubled company. Officials said they hope GM will emerge smaller, with fewer workers and brands and less debt.
Under the proposed restructuring, about 60 percent of the new GM would be owned by the U.S. government, about 12 percent by the governments of Canada and Ontario, a union health trust would own 17.5 percent, and the company’s current bondholders would get 10 percent, according to the Washington Post.
