General Motors Co. took a huge step forward Thursday in ending its ownership by the government, filing paperwork that gave the price range and other details of a planned initial public offering.The company also forecast that it earned as much as $2.1 billion from July through September, a strong financial performance as the company prepares for an initial stock offering on Nov. 18. [Read the full article]

Updated General Motors confirmed on Wednesday that the government would sell enough shares in the automaker(TM)s initial public offering to become a minority investor, a crucial step toward refashioning itself as a smaller, more profitable company.The company also said that it earned about $2 billion in the third quarter, after accounting for $203 million in dividend payments on its preferred stock. The company plans to hold an earnings call on Nov. 10.G.M.(TM)s initial offering, which could fetch nearly $11 billion, would be among the largest initial public offerings in recent years. Though the company(TM)s bankers cut the size of the offering from what might have been $15 billion or more, it would still be the biggest initial offering in the United States since Verisk Analytics issued $1.8 billion in stock in October, according to data from Capital IQ.Under the terms of the offering, G.M. [Read the full article]

There has been a slew of news about General Motors of late, ranging from a new $50 billion estimated market cap to the fact that GM now has as much of a $45 billion tax credit on its books. The tax code, which was amended back in 2008 to allow for more losses to be pulled forward over a longer time period, gives General Motors the ability to use those billions of dollars of losses to offset any gains in the future. In the past, companies that have entered bankruptcy would lose a portion of those losses and have many more restrictions on those tax loss assets. However, following TARP, Congress passed a law that excluded companies that received government money from those restrictions. I am not a tax expert, but anytime you are able to keep $45 billion on your balance sheet as an asset, it seems like a good deal in my book. [Read the full article]