Word: iacocca
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Among Chrysler's top managers, some of whom question the wisdom of decisions Iacocca made for the company when he ran it, there is grumbling now that their former boss, susceptible to Kerkorian's unwholesome charms, is putting the company in jeopardy to satisfy his own ambition. "They are shocked and pissed,'' says one board member. "It's '80s greed vs. '90s forward-thinking management. Iacocca's involvement is really getting under people's skin.'' Certainly there's a prospect of money in the deal for him. For all his wealth-$200 million at last estimate-Iacocca has never been...
...while money is part of it, the deal can be fully understood only by laying the spreadsheets over a psychoanalyst's couch. For Iacocca, triumph followed by setbacks and then vindication has been a lifelong theme. "After Chrysler's bailout," says a close associate of Iacocca's, "the Secretary of the Treasury saw him arriving at a football game in his private jet. He called him and told him to get rid of the plane. Lee did, but then turned around and bought Gulfstream. Don't get mad, get even. That's pure Lee.'' His best-selling autobiography opens with...
Sweeter than retirement, certainly, which hasn't provided Iacocca an arena commensurate with his status as a national hero. It is all very well to start up a business that sells olive-oil spread or to promote gambling casinos on Indian reservations--two of his recent pursuits--but it doesn't compare with having the President return your calls. In September he filed for divorce from his third wife. She later countersued, challenging their prenuptial agreement and accusing him of hiring detectives to spy on her in their home in Beverly Hills, a charge he denies...
...Iacocca insists the takeover bid is not a strategy to get the old cowboy back in the saddle. "I'm an investor, period," he says. "No directorship, no management, nothing--zero." But even as he says that, he can't resist kibbitzing. For one thing, Iacocca has wanted for years to make Chrysler a truly international operation with sales and manufacturing capabilities around the world. In the 1980s he tried to enter his company into deals first with Volkswagen, then with Fiat, but to no avail. "We do not have a global presence," he complained last week...
...Iacocca also thinks the company can afford to spend down some of its cash reserve. Auto manufacturers suffer the problems of other cyclical industries. The same domestic auto industry that had record earnings of $14.6 billion last year posted a whopping $7.6 billion in losses back in 1991. But the $7.5 billion put aside by Eaton, says Iacocca, is too much. "The most we ever needed in severe downturns was four to five [billion]," he says. Keep $2.5 billion in cash on hand, add the company's $2.5 billion bank credit line and "you're fine," he says...