Company: General Motors Corporation

Founders: William C. Durant

Industry: The company, also known under the label GM, is a U.S.-based, multinational corporation that has predominated the automaker industry since 1931.

History:

General Motors was founded on September 16, 1908 by William C. Durant, as a holding company for Buick. It quickly acquired Oldsmobile within the year. The following year, Durant brought Cadillac, Oakland, Elmore and several others.

In 1910, Durant lost control of the company due to a large amount of debt the company incurred in its acquisitions. He then left the company and co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911 with the Chevrolet brothers Louis and Gaston. With the support of Pierre S. du Pont, he returned to GM’s helm in 1916 after a successfully resolved stock buy-back campaign. In 1920, he lost the company for good when du Pont removed him from management.

In 1925, the company acquired Vauxhall Motors and in 1929 acquired an 80% stake in Adam Opel AG, a German automobile manufacturer. In 1931, the stake was increased to 100% and the company has remained to be the core of GM Europe up to the present.

In the early months of 2007, the company fell second to Japan’s Toyota but quickly regained the lead spot in the summer of the same year.

Today, GM has an estimated 284,000 people under its employ worldwide. It has operations in 33 countries and in 2007, reported revenues of $181 billion. Since 1931, it has kept a tenacious hold on its status as the world’s biggest car manufacturer based on annual sales.

Leadership:

• G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. – GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• Frederick A. Henderson – GM President and Chief Operating Officer
• Robert A. Lutz – GM Vice Chairman, Global Product Development