Updated: Lutz, Stephens, Forster Jump Ship

Don't get over excited by the title of this piece. If you work for GM, "GM Execs Jump Ship" doesn't stand for "you'll get rid of them because they quit". It's more like them getting rid of you. Or of GM, for that matter. According to a report posted by AP, six General Motors executives have sold recently some 200,000 shares in the soon-to-be-bankrupt manufacturer. Four group vice presidents and two vice chairmen sold some of their stock on Friday and Monday, at prices ranging in between $1.45 and $1.61 per share. Of course, the official story is that the sale does not come as a result of the approaching deadline. According to company spokeswoman Julie Gibson, the executives "do not operate with any knowledge that other people don't have." The six execs who displayed the confidence GM needs now more than ever are vice chairman Bob Lutz (who sold 81,360 shares at $1.61 each for a total of $130,990), vice chairman Thomas Stephens and Group vice presidents Carl-Peter Forster, Ralph Szygenda, Gary Cowger and Troy Clarke. For the other less informed bondholders, GM offered 10 percent of the company's equity in exchange for the clearing of a $27 billion debt. Equity has also been offered to the US government (50 percent) and the UAW (39 percent for the $10 billion GM owns in the trust funds). We can't help to wonder why the six executives sold stock just prior to Fritz Henderson's statement, in which he said “I certainly think today that it’s more probable that we would have to resort to a bankruptcy process." In a more recent report posted by Autonews, Lutz and the other executives are said to have sold 315,000 shares and liquidated all their remaining direct holdings in General Motors. The sale of made possible by a "window of opportunity" in the stock selling ban imposed by the government. That window remains opened throughout Tuesday, so further developments are to be expected.