After Ford sells off Jaguar, Land Rover, GM may also divest brands, eliminate white-collar jobs

07 July 2008

General Motors Corp. is reported to be mulling some cutbacks across its white-collar workforce, as well as trimming its brand portfolio.

The Wall Street Journal today reported that General Motors is preparing to cut thousands of more jobs and possibly unload one or more of its marquee brands in its plan to return to profitability by 2010.

Amidst steep declines in its vehicle sales, and at a time of soaring gas prices and low consumer confidence, GM could be mulling presenting job cuts and other cash-saving steps to its board of directors by early August, said the WSJ. These measures could potentially be part of a much broader re-evaluation that would have the eventual goal of returning the company back into black by 2010, the WSJ said citing internal projections.

The report said that GM is likely to approve the white-collar job cuts at company's board meeting in August. The company has faced criticism that GM still had too much fat in its middle management, despite eliminating 12,000 white-collar jobs to 32,000 last year from 44,000 in 2000.

The company has also been criticised for its high engineering, manufacturing and marketing costs that make it dificult to sustain all its eight brands.

The WSJ report said that all the company's brands, with the exception of Chevrolet and Cadillac, are potential candidates for elimination, with Buick, Saturn and Saab being the  most likely divestitures.