Michigan Democratic Party Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed has slammed General Motors Co.’s (NYSE:GM) multi-billion-dollar share buyback exercise, warning that the move will negatively impact GM’s workers.
Share Buybacks Should Be Illegal
In a post on the social media platform X, El-Sayed criticized the decision. “GM just announced the biggest stock buyback in automotive industry history,” the Democratic Senate Candidate said.
He added that “instead of investing in their workers or new product lines,” the company’s executives were “robbing from the future” and seeing major paydays for themselves and the shareholders today. “Stock buybacks should be illegal,” El-Sayed said in his post.
GM just announced the biggest stock buyback in automotive industry history. Instead of investing in their workers or new product lines, GM executives are robbing from the future to pay themselves and their shareholders today. Stock buybacks should be illegal.
— Dr. Abdul El-Sayed (@AbdulElSayed) October 21, 2026
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The United Auto Workers (UAW) Union also delivered sharp criticism of the decision, according to an official statement released by the union on Tuesday, arguing that the buyback could instead be used to improve employee benefits, domestic manufacturing operations and retirement options for workers.
As GM released its earnings report, the company also announced a $20 billion buyback of its shares, leaving 849 million outstanding shares in the market. GM reported revenue of $50.02 billion for Q3, which rose nearly 3% YoY and beat market consensus estimates of $48.53 billion.
GM also announced it was focusing on its self-driving efforts, expanding its Super Cruise system to be available on the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and the GMC Sierra 1500 trucks. GM expects Super Cruise subscriptions to cross 850,000 by the end of 2026.
Mary Barra Is Confident in GM’s New Trucks
During the earnings call with investors, CEO Mary Barra expressed confidence in GM’s next-generation trucks, saying that the company’s rivals in the sector had offered incentives on their products for years, but GM’s trucks, on the other hand, had maintained market share based on quality.
GM’s CFO Paul Jacobson also backed Barra’s point, saying that the company’s incentives on the trucks were "several hundred basis points lower than prior truck changeovers" as trucks transition from one generation to the next.
Price Action: General Motors shares were down 0.63% at $75.62 during premarket trading on Thursday.
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