DETROIT — General Motors Co. has pumped another $2 billion into its underfunded U.S. pension plans by giving them 60.6 million shares of common stock.
The contribution comes on top of $4 billion in cash that the Detroit company paid into the plans in December.
The moves cut $6 billion off a $27.4 billion pension liability that was on the company’s books. As of Dec. 31, 2009, the U.S. salaried and hourly plans were $17.1 billion short of their obligations, while GM’s non-U.S. pension plans were $10.3 billion short. The plans will be revalued as of the end of 2010, and the shortfalls should be far lower due to the contributions and investment growth in the past year.
GM said the earlier $4 billion contribution came from its cash reserves. The company announced plans to make the cash and stock contributions in October. Its executives have said their goal is to become debt free so they can better weather future economic downturns.
