"On June 1, General Motors Co. (GM) announced a program that will eliminate approximately $26 billion in pension liabilities for salaried retirees and beneficiaries by the end of 2012. This reduction in GM's pension obligation will be accomplished through a combination of (1) offering lump sums to 42,000 of its 118,000 salaried retirees and beneficiaries impacted by the program, and (2) purchasing annuities from The Prudential Insurance Company of America for those retirees and beneficiaries who did not receive a lump sum payment. The size of the transaction alone makes it unique within corporate America and the pension industry. In the United States, the entire volume of pension liabilities annuitized in recent years has not exceeded $1 billion per year, and no single annuity transaction has exceeded $1 billion since the 1980s."  MORE >>