--- description: General Motors said Thursday its first quarter profits dropped 86% as a series of massive recalls cost the automaker $1.3 billion. title: General Motors Profits Drop 86 Percent After Recalls image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Earnings](/tag/earnings/) ## Earnings Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # General Motors Profits Drop 86 Percent After Recalls  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 24, 2014 12:39 PM CUT  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 24, 2014 12:39 PM CUT General Motors said Thursday its [first quarter profits](http://www.gm.com/company/investors/earning-releases.content%5Fpages%5Fnews%5Femergency%5Fnews%5F2014%5F0424-earnings-release.~content~gmcom~home~company~investors.html "undefined") dropped approximately 86% from the same period last year after a series of massive recalls cost the automaker $1.3 billion. The company’s profits in the first three months of the year fell to $125 million, compared to $865 million for the first quarter of 2013\. This year’s first quarterly earnings report marks the company’s worst showing since it reported a loss after going through bankruptcy in 2009, the New York _Times_ [reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/business/general-motors-net-income-falls-85.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes "undefined"). But the company’s first quarter profits still trounced analyst estimates. Excluding one-time items, GM’s profit was 29 cents a share, well above the [Bloomberg estimate ](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-24/gm-s-first-quarter-profit-beats-estimates-on-truck-prices.html "undefined")of 4 cents a share. GM has recently recalled 7 million vehicles worldwide, 2.6 million of which because of faulty ignition switches that have been linked to at least 13 deaths. The company was also hit with $300 million in restructuring costs and $419 million because of a valuation change in Venezuelan currency. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/75352/gm-profits-drop-recalls/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/75352/gm-profits-drop-recalls/"},"headline":"General Motors Profits Drop 86 Percent After Recalls","datePublished":"2014-04-24T12:39:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:28:42.024Z","description":"The troubled automaker took a $1.3 billion hit after it had to recall 7 million vehicles worldwide, 2.6 million of them because of problems with ignition switches that have been linked to 13 deaths so far","url":"https://time.com/75352/gm-profits-drop-recalls/","keywords":["Earnings","cars","Automakers","GM"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/earnings/","name":"Earnings"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/75352/gm-profits-drop-recalls/","name":"General Motors Profits Drop 86 Percent After Recalls"}}]}] ```