2009 could break bankruptcy records

Posted May 29 2009, 11:10 AM
by Catherine Holahan

When General Motors (GM) files for bankruptcy protection in the upcoming week, it will become the 99th public company to do so this year. Its filing will put 2009 on track to be the worst year in history in terms of Chapter 11 filings, according to statistics from BankruptcyData.com.

GM will be the biggest bankruptcy this year. The company has roughly $91 billion in assets and 243,000 employees, according to its end of year filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fellow automaker Chrysler is the second-largest this year with about $39.3 billion in assets. That's followed by Thornburg Mortgage (THMRQ), mall giant General Growth Properties (GGWPQ) and Lyondell Chemical Company, which traded under the stock ticker LYO before it was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in December 2007.


"At the current pace of filings, we will come very close to the record number of public company bankruptcies," said George Putnam III, founder of New Generation Research, which tracks distressed securities and bankruptcies. The record is 263 filings in 2001.

2009 does not hold the record for largest bankruptcy filings, however. That distinction goes to 2008, which saw banking giants Lehman Brothers Holdings and Washington Mutual file. When Lehman went under, it had about $691.1 Billion in assets, making it the biggest company to declare bankruptcy in history. Washington Mutual, now owned by JPMorgan Chase (JPM), comes in at number two with about $327.9 Billion in assets at the time of its filing. WorldCom -- the long distance company which filed for bankruptcy in 2002 -- is the third largest with $103.9 Billion in assets. General Motors, when it files, will likely come in fourth with just over $91 Billion in assets.

GM will be one of the top companies in terms of employees to declare bankruptcy. It has 243,000 employees. Only Kmart Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002, had about 10,000 more employees. The retailer is now part of Sears Holding (SHLD).

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