Okay, so maybe GAZ wasn't really interested in buying Land Rover and Jaguar from Ford, but that hasn't stopped Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska from buying a big chunk of another U.S. automaker. Deripaska is the owner of GAZ and he just bought 5% of General Motors on the open market. Said to be worth about $16.8 billion, Deripaska seems perfectly capable of coughing up the $900 million it will take him to purchase his 5% at Monday's closing price of $32.45 per share. Besides his links to GAZ and now GM, and along with rumors of his interest in Jaguar/Land Rover, Deripaska's Basic Element firm is also about to invest $1.54 billion in Magna International. Seriously, this guy needs a hobby other than spending money.
[Source: Automotive News, sub. req.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
F451 @ Aug 7th 2007 12:53PM
This could turnout to be one of the most brilliant moves, if not one of the riskiest. Doing business in Russia requires much finesse, connections, and adeptness. Of course with the FISA Bill passed, spying on what the Russians, and GM, are doing is a lot easier. Does this mean Bobble Head Bob will fly a fighter jet onto Russian soil?
Mike G @ Aug 7th 2007 1:28PM
This man is about to show us all how to lose $200 million very quickly. This will be fun to watch.
dustin @ Aug 7th 2007 1:00PM
Spending money is a hobby.
John R @ Aug 7th 2007 1:08PM
All that money and he can't get a decent hair cut? Maybe he goes to the same barber as Bill Gates...
the marais @ Aug 7th 2007 2:06PM
I cannot wait for the day when we are done with oil, and with oil money. It is a commodity that has caused untold political and environmental damage, as well as retarded for 100 years humanity's search for a better, more efficient, and cleaner source of portable energy.
dr @ Aug 7th 2007 2:34PM
Deripaska's money has nothing to do with oil. He is the owner of most part of Russian aluminium industry.
And somehow i doubt that it's going somewhere in the foreseeable future -)
sean @ Aug 7th 2007 4:15PM
OMG Do you know how important oil has been to the expansion of the economy over the past 100 years? I can not name one single item that you can buy9in the developed world) which has not used oil in it's production process SOMEWHERE along the line. That includes the chair I'm sitting on and the soap I just washed my hands with.
why not the LS2LS7? @ Aug 7th 2007 2:40PM
He does have another hobby. Hiring murderers.
Russia is just a front for the Russian mafia. Russian investors should be banned from investing in American companies.
GM pulled out of Russian operations mysteriously a couple years ago. Perhaps in a vain attempt to save their kneecaps. Looks like the trouble followed them back home.
sean @ Aug 7th 2007 4:18PM
What an deep post. Now you must remember not to buy GM because you also will also be paying the wages of hired murderers. pfff
Tool @ Aug 7th 2007 5:37PM
Oh great, now GM has to deal with another outsider who thinks he knows more about the American auto industry than the current GM Executive Team.
josh @ Aug 8th 2007 8:08AM
Lets all hopw this Russian crimal goes down with all his money. He should better invest his mafia money in his worthless GAZ company.
Besides. He is as ugly as his russian cars.
andrew @ Aug 9th 2007 6:23AM
since when did investing and spending become one and the same? The guy amassed 16.4 bn. - you'd think he has a pretty good idea of where to place his resources.