Hindsight Market

The Graveyard › 2009

General Motors

GM · Autos & Aerospace · NYSE · in our data January 2, 1968 to June 1, 2009 (41.4 years)

Our price history begins on January 2, 1968, and General Motors was already trading then; how long before that, our data does not say. At its peak, on May 3, 1999, the market valued it at $61.3 billion. It ended in a collapse: the last trade was $0.75, -98.9% from its split-adjusted high. The delisting record says: likely failure.

1968-012009-06
Peak market value$61.3 billionMay 3, 1999
Highest split-adjusted share price$65.71April 28, 2000
Last share price$0.75June 1, 2009
From its split-adjusted high to the end-98.9%
Return over the days in our data-79.1%with dividends, before the last trade
Worst single day-33.0%May 29, 2009

Share prices are adjusted for splits and other share changes, so the high and the last price compare like for like; the peak market value is as it was on the day. The return covers the trading days in our data only: it does not include what holders received, or lost, after the last trade (a merger payout, a bankruptcy), and it does not reach back before 1968.

Could you have seen it coming? Play The Crash of '08

Also gone in 2009: Autos & Aerospace