GM Stockholders Sue to Block Hughes Sale
Times Staff and Wire Reports
General Motors Corp. stockholders have sued to block the $9.5-billion sale of most of GM’s Hughes defense unit to Raytheon Co. The four lawsuits, filed Feb. 5-6 in Delaware Chancery Court but not made public until this week, seek class-action status. The lawsuits, which name GM and its 14 officers and directors, claim the sale of Hughes will cheat GM’s Class H shareholders out of a 20% premium they were promised by the auto maker if Hughes was sold. Hughes Aircraft is a division of Los Angeles-based Hughes Electronics Corp. GM owns all of the assets of Hughes Electronics, but the shares trade as GM Class H stock and their performance is tied to Hughes’ earnings.
