After years of declining sales and management missteps, American Automaker General Motors appeared ready to collapse by the time President Obama took office in 2009. Such a collapse would have cost millions of American jobs and signaled the decline and possible death of an industry that once stood as an example of American manufacturing power. President Obama decided to invest $49 billion of American taxpayer money into General Motors to try to save the company.

The money came with conditions – a massive restructuring effort, firing the CEO and nearly 30% of management, getting concessions from workers on issues of pay and benefits – and would need to be paid back to the U.S. Treasury if the plan worked. Some Americans supported the president’s decision to invest in General Motors and some thought it was a bad idea and would result in a total loss of the $49 billion investment.

Yesterday, General Motor started selling shares to the public again for the first time since the government acted to save the company. President Obama spoke about the milestone saying:

“Today, one of the toughest tales of the recession took another big step towards becoming a success story. General Motors relaunched itself as a public company, cutting the government’s stake in the company by nearly half. What’s more, American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM…And I have faith that America’s best days and America’s — and American manufacturing’s best days are still ahead of us.”