Word: gm
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...GM's decision to back out of the sale of its European operations this week was a huge embarrassment for German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She had thrown her weight behind the bid by the Canadian-Austrian car-parts maker Magna and its Russian partner, Sberbank, to buy Opel and Vauxhall from the beginning, seeing it as the best way to save German jobs and offering both sides billions of dollars in loan guarantees to grease the wheels. Before GM made its sudden U-turn on Nov. 3, Merkel had also been riding high. She was coming off an electoral victory...
...German Economy Minister, Rainer Brüderle, summed up the mood as he arrived at a cabinet meeting in Berlin on Wednesday: "The behavior of General Motors toward Germany is totally unacceptable. We won't let GM put us under any pressure." But at this point, can the German government or unions really do anything about it? Can they punish GM or at least make things difficult for the manufacturer? Will they be able to protect the 25,000 Germans employed by the company? (See the most exciting cars...
...least one thing is clear: the German government wants GM to pay back the $2.2 billion bridge loan that Berlin gave it a few months ago to keep Opel's business afloat. Jürgen Reinholz, the Economy Minister of the eastern state of Thuringia, says GM will likely do this by the end of November. But a huge question for Merkel is whether GM will now receive any of the $6.7 billion in loans the government had previously promised to Magna to seal the deal. The pledge had raised alarm bells in Britain, Belgium and Spain, where leaders feared...
...Feinberg's big changes are in the form of payment, particularly on Wall Street. Gone are year-end payouts and AIG-style guaranteed retention awards. Instead, he devised a method of compensating executives: something he calls salary stock. Each pay period, the executives at Bank of America, GM and the other firms will get awards of stock along with their regular paychecks. The checks can be cashed immediately, but the executives may not sell the stock for up to four years. Also, bonuses are paid in restricted stock, which must be held for at least three years...
That's harshly arbitrary, as is the fact that UAW jobs have been saved, at least for now, thanks to $60 billion of government money flowing into GM and Chrysler. Meanwhile, other companies have been allowed to croak. I can see how on macroeconomic grounds, it makes sense. Letting GM and Chrysler go under would have devastated the industrial Midwest and deprived millions of retirees of their postemployment health care. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...