Just 16 months after emerging from bankruptcy, General Motors is again a publicly traded company and expects its first full year of profit since 2004. With the company in such good shape, the automaker will thank the public for their financial support in a 60-second ad that will air on Thanksgiving Day.
The ad illustrates failure through several pop culture references and cartoon images. There’s no voiceover, but toward the end of the ad, the words, “Thank you for helping us get back up” appear, followed by the GM logo.
The U.S. government invested $49.5 billion of taxpayer money into General Motors from 2008-2009, giving it 61% ownership of the automaker.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. Treasury Department earned $11.7 billion from the sale of GM stock in the company’s IPO last Thursday.
Overall, U.S. government ownership in the automakers is now down to 33 percent from around 61 percent before the IPO, according to GM.
