NASCAR next for GM axe?

General Motors Corp., pushing to speed up cost cuts after a $15.5 billion second-quarter loss, said it will halt its sponsorship of the movie industry's Academy Awards and television's Emmy Awards after at least a decade. “With the current business challenges and the tightening of budgets, we decided to focus our promotional dollars on activities that reach the most customers and get us the most return on investment,'' Kelly Cusinato, a spokeswoman for the Detroit-based automaker, said today in an interview.

Cusinato declined to say how much GM spends on sponsorships for the two programs, which both air on Walt Disney Co.'s ABC. GM was the only automotive sponsor for ABC's broadcast of the 2008 Academy Awards in February and provided a fleet of vehicles for transport during the events.

GM, the largest U.S. automaker, is re-evaluating advertising spending under a plan announced last month to save $10 billion a year. Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said in an Aug. 13 presentation that the company may be able to realize more of those savings this year instead of in 2009.

The company's decision to end its Academy Awards sponsorship was reported yesterday by the Wall Street Journal.