[binlow84]

Originally Posted by The_Blur

The government has decided to take a stake in the company as payment. Due to GM's competitive product line, the government believes that GM stock will return that investment with an initial public offering (IPO) and subsequent sales of government-owned GM stock over a period of time.

To expand on this, the Canadian and US governments gave GM a total of ~$61 billion. Of this $61 billion some ~$1.5 billion (of a total 9 billion) from the Canadian government and ~$7 billion of the $52 billion from the US government were considered as loans and required to be payed back in about 5 years time. the remaining "bail out," some 52 billion I believe was converted into shares of stock. Once GM decides it is stable enough to go public once again the Canadian and US governments expect to regain the remainder of their investment back by selling their shares.

So yes, GM has paid off the full value of the government loans, however the government still has considerable investment tied up in the company. Still, it is a huge stride forward IMO.