Brownstown's workforce has already dwindled
Fewer than a dozen employees remain at the plant south of Detroit, down from roughly 300 at its peak. GM says it will shut the facility when the lease expires in summer 2027 and is offering the remaining employees placements elsewhere.
Battery production began there in January 2010, when then-Energy Secretary Steven Chu visited the plant following $106 million in federal Recovery Act funding for the project.
The leased facility covers 480,000 square feet and built batteries and electric drive units for the Corvette E-Ray, as well as batteries for the Cadillac Celestiq, according to an October 20 report by Car and Driver. About 80,000 square feet was devoted to hydrogen energy development. The report says GM has stopped work on a hydrogen fuel cell system because of high costs, limited infrastructure and low demand.
Brownstown also housed the headquarters of GM's hydrogen fuel cell joint venture with Honda for several years. That partnership began in 2017 and was dissolved in 2025. Separately, GM is repurposing a Detroit plant that had been intended for a hydrogen fuel cell project with Piston Automotive.
A larger authorization after years of repurchases
GM approved the new buyback after completing the $6 billion program announced in January. An analysis of GM's filings published by StockTitan puts the authorization at twice the size of the company's $10 billion accelerated buyback in November 2023. It also exceeds each of the $6 billion authorizations issued in June 2024, February 2025 and January 2026 by more than threefold.
The analysis calculates that GM spent $29.5 billion on its shares from the beginning of 2023 through September 2026: $11.1 billion in 2023, $7.1 billion in 2024, $6.0 billion in 2025 and $5.3 billion during the first nine months of 2026. Outstanding shares declined about 39% over that period, from 1,394.6 million in January 2023 to 849 million on September 30, 2026.
The board also approved a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, according to GM's October 20 earnings release. Shareholders of record at the close of trading on December 4, 2026, will receive the payment on December 17.
Profit rises as GM updates its outlook
GM reported $50.0 billion in third-quarter 2026 revenue, a 2.9% increase from a year earlier. Net income attributable to stockholders reached $3.3 billion, compared with $1.327 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT-adjusted, rose 21.6% to $4.1 billion. Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 32.2%, from $2.80 to $3.70.
North America reported EBIT-adjusted of $3.592 billion, up 43.4%. Results declined elsewhere: GM International's EBIT-adjusted dropped 87.7% to $28 million, while equity income from the company's China joint ventures fell 60.3% to $32 million. GM Financial reported adjusted earnings before taxes of $668 million, down 16.9%.
For the full year, GM narrowed its EBIT-adjusted forecast from $14.0 billion-$16.0 billion to $14.5 billion-$15.5 billion. It increased its adjusted automotive free cash flow forecast to $11.5 billion-$12.5 billion, previously $9.5 billion-$11.5 billion, and revised its adjusted EPS range to $12.75-$13.75 from $12.00-$14.00.
Job cuts extend beyond Brownstown
GM eliminated about 1,145 positions this year when it moved Detroit's Factory Zero electric vehicle complex to one shift. At its Ultium Cells joint-venture battery plant in Ohio, hundreds of jobs have been cut indefinitely. Many more workers have been temporarily idled in Ohio and Tennessee, while hundreds have been laid off at Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City.
A former Factory Zero employee told the World Socialist Web Site earlier this year that he had worked 12-hour shifts before another layoff cost him his health insurance. Describing the contrast with GM's rising share price, he said: "Stock prices are going up, and it's not trickling down."
Fain condemns buyback; WSWS challenges union's record
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain called the buyback "legalized mass looting" and questioned why 80% of GM autoworkers lack pensions and retirement healthcare. He also said: "We will remember when we are back at the bargaining table in 2028."
The World Socialist Web Site argues that Fain's criticism obscures the union leadership's own role in accepting concessions. It cites GM's November 29, 2023, announcement of a $10 billion accelerated buyback just days after workers ratified the UAW contract. The publication also points to the 2007 agreement, under which the union gave up pensions and retiree healthcare for new hires, and to the union-controlled benefit trust's ownership of GM stock. The trust sold its remaining directly held GM shares in February 2021.
In discussing the recent UAW election, the WSWS reports that more than 90% of eligible members did not vote and that Fain won reelection with support from only about 6% of the eligible membership. The publication characterizes the low participation as a mass boycott.
The WSWS advocates worker-controlled rank-and-file committees connecting plants and countries. It cites recent labor votes in Mexico and Canada: Volkswagen workers in Puebla rejected a union-backed agreement, while Stellantis workers in Canada voted to strike.
