Let’s go ahead and start it. Post your GM Death Watch articles and comments here.
I’ll start:
Little more than a day after my post commenting about GMAC’s mortgages, and they go and sell it for $1.5 billion. I’m really scared that we are going to see an asset stripping of the General worse than has ever been seen before. I feel sorry for the poor souls who will be crushed by whatever’s left hitting the fan.
I told you guys that GM is some deep shit, oh no they are ok! just hide an watch.
Hummer and Saab are the two most at risk.
Check out the latest Newsweek for the scoop.
GMAC was the most profitable area. Practically a money printing machine. 1.5 billion? Sounds rather low when compared to assets and annual sales.
I have known competitors in other industries that were regularly selling product to end consumers at 15 percent under best dealer wholesale. We joked that they made it up in volume. We did the same death pool on how many months it would take for the banks to take their souls. Usually it was two months. The lending bank gets first dibs not the employees.
All GM employees better start learning what happened to the 1980 texas oil bust, Savings & Loan Chrisis, and Enron victoms.
GM’s “employee” sales program smelled like a last ditch ship is sinking method to increase sales volume before the end.
I put my death pool in at July 06 for the first bankruptcy hearings. Dec 08 for the final trial dates.
Moderator: About GMAC being sold undervalue, that was my point when I mentioned asset stripping. I bet whoever cut the deal is on the board of GM and the company buying GMAC. That guy will still be raking in the cash after GM’s employees are standing in the soup kitchen line.
The worst thing is, this is what happened at Rover a few years ago. All the profitable businesses were sold undervalue. Finally, the only businesses left were the ones where “unions were holding them back” or they had huge debts (often owed to the businesses that were sold off). Duh!
If the US government is smart, it should step up and put a hold on asset stripping. But then again, if they were smart we wouldn’t be at war in Iraq or running a huge debt or…
Yea, it must be a cigar dealin’ hand in two cookie jars type of scenario.
People do some strange things under pressure. Maybe a large group of directors knows how long they will be tied up in court.
They may figure a deal like this will help pay for the legal troubles ahead.
Something is too quick for a deal like this.
Two bits to the death watch:
GM sells its last stake in Isuzu. No surprise given the asset stripping going on. Anyone want to place bets on the next asset or company to be sold off? I’m thinking Daewoo to Hyundai, or Saab to a Swedish investment group.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2006/04/11/gm-060411.html
The other news, I already posted elsewhere, but its worthy of the death watch. In between news articles like, “China bright spot for GM”, I found this tidbit. The Chinese suppliers who build GM cars underlicense are developing their own products, and keeping the profits to themselves.
Several early Saab bodies were made in Finland(82,83,84). I bet SAAB would be more fodder for Wall sS than another Swedish investment firm. Just speculating.
Saab is definitely death watch material!!! Maybe Saab is the best thermometer of how close GM is to death?
I’ve heard that the Swedish government plays hard ball when a company wants to cut jobs. Perhaps because of that, the cost of closing Saab down would be greater than other GM divisions. That’s why I think selling Saab is far more likely than shuting it down.
Now Buick, there is a the thermometer!
There is a rumour that someone will be pulling out of Nascar in the near future. All signs point to GM trying to save some cash.
The UAW has asked its members at Delphi for the authorization to strike should Delhpi try to dump its union contracts.
Delphi Strike allowed.
This could be more crippling for US auto MFG. Why would you bother trying to make auto parts in the US if labor does not want to work for greedy corporations anyway.
Did anyone watch Frontline about retirement last night? I caught part on corporate restructuring. Basically, United Airlines, in the cited case, took benefits away one-by-one, fired workers, and lowered wages slowly over the course of 3~4 years. In the end, only the president kept a pension (hmmm), the workers lost what they had put in to the pension program, and were working longer for less money. An expert said this is the new way corporations restructure…they cut until just before people will quit their jobs.
After seeing that, I expect GM to try a slow cut approach. Watch out for the knives.
everyone is working longer for less in return.
… took benefits away one-by-one, fired workers, and lowered wages slowly over the course of 3~4 years. In the end, only the president kept a pension (hmmm), the workers lost what they had put in to the pension program, and were working longer for less money. An expert said this is the new way corporations restructure…they cut until just before people will quit their jobs.
Can there be any question in your mind about why unions (in general) were organized?
Why would you bother trying to make auto parts in the US if labor does not want to work for greedy corporations anyway.
It ain’t just ‘auto parts’ … is it.
No one likes to be f u c k e d with; especially after say, thirty years of hard work and playing by ‘corporate’ games.
If you’ve ever done ‘factory work’ on a hot August afternoon you’d appreciate the sentiment: “These are the promises you made to me if I agreed to work for your company, under these conditions. I did what you ask, now I’m old, and now it’s time for you to show me the money you said would be there for me.”
Well, GM isn’t out of the woods yet, but they do seem to have started to turn it around:
The car giant lost $115m (£61.3m) in the three months to September 2006, and said that without a string of one-off charges it would have been in profit.
In the same period a year ago, GM posted a loss of $1.7bn.
I thought for sure the turn around would be slower, so it is surprising. Maybe next year, we can declare the end of the death watch?
GM’s 2008 Chevy Malibu interior. I showed it to a friend, and he couldn’t tell it was from a US company.
Not bad, pretty clean actually, from the Tambor compartment, to the HVAC and Audio controls…
Robert Cumberford had an interesting review of the Saturn Aura in last month’s Automobile entitled “Nice, but who cares” a good one.
Looks great, as long as they don’t make those huge acres of plastic out of their usual cheap crap. I look forward to renting one of these.
LOL… If you go with Avis most times they will let you take a Mazda 6 with no up charge…