• Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, Monday, June 1, 2009 11:15 AM

As expected, General Motors filed for bankruptcy this morning in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. It hopes for a quick sale process that would allow a much smaller company to emerge from court protection in as little as 60 to 90 days. A bankruptcy judge, meanwhile, approved the sale Sunday of most of Chrysler's assets to a group led by Italy's Fiat SpA.

"The immediate implication is that the companies are going to get smaller and so market share is up for grabs, which means that rivals like Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Hyundai are going to gain share," says Christopher Richter, auto analyst at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in Tokyo.

The Wall Street Journal reports that GM is closing in on the sale of its Hummer brand with an undisclosed investor. Sources tell John D. Stoll, Stefania Bianchi And Sharon Terlep that the deal will preserve 3,000 U.S. jobs in manufacturing, engineering and at dealerships and that he buyer has committed to make aggressive investment in future Hummer products.

Ad Age, meanwhile, asks eleven ad industry insiders whether they'd take General Motors as a client and how they'd pitch for the account. 

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