Chachacha: No, I mean the government IS divesting itself of the ownership position it has in Citibank and General Motors. This is in ADDITION to the companies paying back loans.

I own some stock in Citibank and a few months ago the government announced that it was preparing to sell it's shares. The United States government currently (well, as of July) owns 27% of Citibank as partial collateral for the bailout funds. The discussion has been over what the schedule is going to be for the government to sell it's shares and what effect that will have on other shareholders (like myself) in the form of price fluctuations. So far, even though Citibank is down from a recent high around $5/share, the government still stands to make a profit on the shares.

GM started filing paperwork in August to pave the way for an IPO (Initial Public Offering). This is to get GM back to being traded on the stock exchange and it's been the administrations stated intention to sell it's shares in GM just like it's doing with Citibank. The government currently owns 61% of General Motors. It appears highly unlikely that the government could make a profit on THOSE shares as an IPO *could* raise $20B but the reports I'm reading say that GM would have to raise $70B in order have 'paid back' the bailout money with equity.