General Motors will be issuing new stock, a signal that the company is emerging from the ashes like the mythical phoenix.
...
But investors who are holding the old GM stock are probably not so elated. Their shares are nearly worthless, except to those who sell them to lock in their losses for tax-deduction purposes. If you are still holding GM shares issued before the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in June 2009, so sorry, but you lose. You are not entitled to receive the newly issued shares in exchange.
...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111706419.html