Market cap isn't saying what the 'company' is worth. It's a measure of the equity portion of the ownership of the company. It excludes the debt portion of the ownership.
Right now GM has an enterprise value of $130B. That means it's expected to spit out $130B of cash over its lifetime (discounted to a present day value). But the market cap is only $50B. Meaning $80B of that future cash will go to GM's lenders.
It of course feels super counter-intuitive to add debt (which feels like it should be a negative) to the valuation. But I always felt the house analogy gives an intuitive everyday example.
Right now GM has an enterprise value of $130B. That means it's expected to spit out $130B of cash over its lifetime (discounted to a present day value). But the market cap is only $50B. Meaning $80B of that future cash will go to GM's lenders.
It of course feels super counter-intuitive to add debt (which feels like it should be a negative) to the valuation. But I always felt the house analogy gives an intuitive everyday example.