In 1908 Durant organized the incorporation of General Motors Corporation as a holding company . His reputation for success in managing his carriage company and then Buick , aided him to sell shares in his new Corporation . He went on to sell 12 million dollars worth of shares in just 12 days .
After founding the General Motors Corporation , and raising funds through the sold shares , Durant bought the Buick Motor Company .
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He then bought the Olds Motor Vehicle Company . Oldsmobile remained a division of GM until 2004 when it was replaced with the Saturn line . Saturn is basically an Oldsmobile but made by the Buick division of GM .
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Durant then bought the Oakland Motor Company of Pontiac Michigan (it later became the Pontiac Motor Company) .
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Durant needed money aquired from Buick’s banks bank account , to buy the Cadillac Motor Car Company .
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Durant also aquired a number of parts manufactures and parts supply companies , one of which was AC Delco . The AC stands for Albert Champion the owner and founder of Delco .
In about 1 ½ years General Motors aquired about 25 auto makers . Elmore and Reliant Motor Truck Company were among those companies . The investors were displease when the aquiring of all these companies put a very heavy financial burden on General Motors and Durant was relieved of control of GM in 1910 .
Wm Durant was then a part of the Little Motor Car Company for a time . During his time with Buick Motor Company , Durant had worked with young man who drove a race car for Buick and also worked as a machinist . This man had a machine shop at home were he designed his own engine . Durant formed a partnership with the man , named Louis Chevrolet . Together the founded the Chevrolet Motor Company which opened in 1911 . The Little Motor Car Company aquired and its facilities became part of Chevrolet .
Though The Chevrolet Motor Company was very successful , Louis Chevrolet had differences with Durant and bought out Louis Chevrolets share of the company . Chevrolet Motor Company was so successful that Durant was able to buy enough share in General Motors to gain controlling interest in GM . Durant took control of GM again in 1915 .
Due to the fear created for the financial investors by William Durant’s very aggressive business manner , Durant was forced to resign from GM in 1920 .
William Durant started the Durant Motor Company in 1921 . He aquired Locomobile at a liquidation sale .1n 1922 .
Durant aquired Mason Trucks . He also had dealings with Dort-Frontenac , Louis Chevrolet’s racer manufacturing company . 
Due to the decline in sales during the Great Depression , the last U,S, made Durant Automobile was built in 1931 .
The Durant Motor Company , assembly plant , located in Lansing Michigan was purchased by General Motors in 1935 , and Buicks Oldsmobiles and Cadillacs were built there .
Durant-Frontenac automobiles were built in Canada until 1933 .
William Durant’s automotive ended in 1933 , but he did move on to other business ventures .
William Durant was a brilliant business man of the early automotive world and the GM Corporation that he founded is the largest automaker in the world today . You could refer to Durant’s contributions to the automobile industry as gigantic and topped only by Henry Ford .
William Durant passed on in 1947 .
