General Motors announced on December 12 that it will phase out the Oldsmobile Division over the next few years. GM also said it would cut its salaried work force by 10 percent in North America and Europe over the next year. This announcement came as sales of Oldsmobile vehicles continue to slip. As a result of these moves and production cutbacks, GM said it would take a one-time pre-tax charge of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion against its fourth-quarter earnings, reducing them below Wall Street’s estimates. Investors reacted favorably to the news, and GM’s shares rose $2.39, to $53.94, in mid-day trading. Oldsmobile’s sales have fallen steadily, from more than a million a year in the 1970s to a pro-jected 300,000 this year. Sales in the first 11 months of this year were down 18.5 percent compared with those in the first 11 months of last year, even though the overall auto market has been up 3.9 percent. To reduce surplus vehicles from dealership lots, GM offered zero-interest loans for five years on Oldsmobiles in October. But event that discount, accompanied by a heavy advertising campaign, only increased sales 8.3 percent from 1999 levels. When GM reduced incentives to the levels avail-able for cars from other GM divisions, Oldsmobile’s sales dropped 35.7 percent in November.