GM posts $9.6B 4Q loss, burns through $6.2B cash

2/26/2009

DETROIT General Motors Corp. says it lost $9.6 billion in the fourth quarter and burned through $6.2 billion in cash as it sought government help to avoid running out of cash.

The nation s biggest domestic automaker lost $30.9 billion for all of 2008 as it struggled against a U.S. sales slump and a global recession.

GM has received $13.4 billion in federal loans and its executives are in Washington, D.C., Thursday to talk to the Obama administration about the company s request for up to $30 billion.

For the fourth quarter, GM says it lost $15.71 per share, compared with a loss of $722 million, or $1.28 per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding special items, The Detroit company s loss was $9.65 per share. On that basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a loss of $7.40 per share.