in December 2008 the Bush administration provided a "bridge loan" to General Motors with the requirement of a revised business plan.
On the March 30, 2009 deadline President Barack Obama declined to provide financial aid to General Motors, and requested that General Motors produce credible plans, saying that the company's proposals had avoided tough decisions, and that Chapter 11 bankruptcy appeared the most promising way to reduce its debts, by allowing the courts to compel bondholders and trade unions into settlements.
On 31 May 2009 news broke that the U.S. would initially likely become the largest shareholder of the reorganized GM. The U.S. government would invest up to $50 billion and own 60% of the new GM and the Canadian government would own 12.5%.
On 30 May 2009, it was announced that a deal had been reached to transfer New Opel (Opel plus Vauxhall, minus Saab) assets to a separate company majority-owned by a consortium led by Sberbank of Russia (35%), Magna International of Canada (20%), and Opel employees and car dealers (10%). GM was expected to keep a 35% minority stake in the new company.
On the morning of 1 June 2009, Chevrolet-Saturn of Harlem, a dealership in Manhattan that is owned by GM itself, filed for bankruptcy protection there, followed in the same court by General Motors Corporation (the main GM in Detroit), GM's subsidiary Saturn LLC, and Saturn LLC's subsidiary Saturn Distribution Corporation.[39] All cases were assigned to Judge Robert Gerber.