General Motors is offering buyouts for most of its US salaried workforce and select global executives to trim costs as it shifts to becoming an electric automaker.
The company will offer white-collar workers with at least five years of service a buyout. At the same time, offers will also go out to global executives with at least two years of service. According to a report from CBS News, GM has around 58,000 salaried workers in the US.
The automaker did not confirm the target number, but it did confirm they are looking to cut roughly $2 billion in costs by the end of the year. As well, GM confirmed that the offers are meant to avoid potential firings at a later date.
The cuts will help GM fund research and development, and support the massive amount of capital needed to update GM assembly plants and battery facilities. In addition, the cuts will help GM prepare for a potential economic downturn that could be on the horizon.
This potential downturn has been on the horizon for a few months for GM. Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said this at the Wolfe Research conference a few weeks ago:
We want to be cautious because we don’t want to ignore the macro signs out there, because I don’t want to be up here a year from now saying, ah, we missed it.
GM did not provide any more details on what the buyout packages entail or the offers on the table.
