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GM's Liquidation Motors stock reportedly still worth $370M, can't be sold short

When General Motors entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy over the summer, its bad assets were moved into a firm called Motors Liquidation Company (MLC). That company was capitalized with more than 600 million shares that were meant to be worthless; however, quite the opposite has happened: with its shares priced at $0.60 per, MLC now has a market cap of $370 million. How did that happen? Investors engaged in "naked short-selling" is how it happened. Short sellers usually procure an actual 'tangible' stock from a broker or investment house ... Read more →

REPORT: Chrysler Financial to wind down by 2011, executive pay, well, not so much Jonathon Ramsey

Cerberus submitted its plans for Chrysler Financial to the U.S. Treasury, and then in an announcement that came as a surprise to Cerberus itself, the Treasury said that Chrysler Financial would be ...

REPORT: Nissan ready to say "Mission Accomplished" on recovery work Jonathon Ramsey

Some companies respond to "losing money at a frightening pace" by studying the problem at length as they continue to lose more money, by asking for more money or, in the worst cases, not doing ...

REPORT: 'Old' Chrysler defaulting on loan obligations Jonathon Ramsey

Before there was a Motors Liquidation Co, post-bankruptcy GM's hived-off shelter for useless assets, there was Old Carco LLC. That's the company Chrysler built to house its useless assets, and ...

REPORT: New GM entitled to $16 billion in federal tax breaks courtesy of Old GM Jonathon Ramsey

Due to what appears to be a slight (additional) bending of the rules, the "new," post-bankruptcy General Motors has been allowed to carry the $16 billion net operating loss that was created by the ...

REPORT: VW leans on Porsche, Porsche responds, "We will not accept extortion." 4 months ago on Autoblog

Porsche maintains it still has its mojo, but Volkswagen is treating the company like Porsche's got lunch money and VW is hungry. VW -- which Porsche effectively owns -- loaned Porsche €700 million ($983.8 million) earlier this year, with Porsche due to pay it back in September. As collateral ...

REPORT: Daimler, Porsche dismiss talks of stake as "speculation" 5 months ago on Autoblog

Daimler's Dieter Zetsche has called 2009 a "Darwin year" for the car business, with the weak and the lame being pulled down by larger forces. Surprisingly, Porsche was one of those businesses that nearly went under, and it has been looking for help almost anywhere it could get it. Reuters says that ...

Who are Chrysler's top ten creditors? The answer may surprise you 6 months ago on Autoblog

Chrysler's top ten creditors are owed about $400 million, and the top two creditors account for nearly $130 million of that. The company first in line for payment is Ohio Module, which is a subsidiary of Hyundai Mobis, which is in turn a publicly traded subsidiary of Hyundai. Ohio Module makes ...

REPORT: Chrysler affidavits reveal crippling problems that hurt chances for success post-bankruptcy 6 months ago on Autoblog

History could eventually reveal that Chrysler declaring bankruptcy may have just been the easy part. According to CNN, affidavits taken from Chrysler engineers and executives do a pretty good job of showing that things will get really tough when it's time for the automaker to start making cars ...

Carlos Ghosn vows he won't depart Nissan until it returns to profitability? 6 months ago on Autoblog

Carlos Ghosn became Nissan's chief operating officer in 1999, initially declared that he would remain in the job for a maximum of ten years. At the time, Nissan had $13 billion in debt, a history of losses, and an almost completely forgettable product lineup. Now, on the eve of his ten-year ...

Chrysler's dissident lender group withdraws objections 6 months ago on Autoblog

There was a minority group of some 20 Chrysler lenders that were fighting the repayment arrangements Chrysler was trying to make before Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Led by Oppenheimer and Stairway Capital, they were owed $2.9 billion and didn't feel they were getting all they could. After Chrysler ...

REPORT: AutoShanghai show bucks trend to show record attendance figures 6 months ago on Autoblog

In the introductory videos for the Bertone Mantide, designer Jason Castriota says "There's a reason we introduced the car here," in Shanghai -- and the performance of the Shanghai Motor Show appears to justify that kind of thinking for nearly every automaker there. The show was physically larger ...

Fiat CEO Marchionne: "If I was a betting man, I would suggest Chrysler is going to fall into Chapter 11" 6 months ago on Autoblog

After yesterday's Chrysler news regarding the first-lien holders and the U.S. Treasury coming to terms, we hope none of you thought the Pentastar had gotten off the see-saw. The latest tidbit comes from Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, but it comes via CAW head Ken Lewenza. According to Lewenza, ...

Qatar pondering taking stake in Porsche? 6 months ago on Autoblog

The worst secret in the universe is that there's a lot of money in the Middle East and the Gulf states are looking all over the world for places to put it. Abu Dhabi's Aabar investment spent €1.95 billion on a 9.1% stake in Daimler (around $2.5B USD), and now the state of Qatar is eying what ...

AdAge provides a glimpse at how GM's financial crisis is affecting its marketing efforts 6 months ago on Autoblog

The "television upfront" is the term used when networks sell advertising time for the coming season's shows. An advertiser will commit to buying a particular amount of commercial time and then pay much closer to the show's airing in the fall. With everyone still unsure of whether GM and Chrysler ...

Ssangyong preparing to lay off nearly 40% of workforce by end of June? 7 months ago on Autoblog

Ssangyong Motor Company is still struggling to gain traction after it ceased production late last year and slipped into receivership earlier this year. It restarted its production lines in February, but even the company director, Lee Yu-Il, says volume is still far too slow. To deal with matters, ...

REPORT: MI attorney general pleads for automakers to declare bankruptcy in state 7 months ago on Autoblog

As in a basketball game when players are yanking on jerseys trying to block each other out under the basket, General Motors and Chrysler's creditors have officially begun jockeying for position. Michigan's Attorney General, Mike Cox, has sent letters to the CEOs at both companies to ask that, if ...

GM ready to let Opel go for free? 7 months ago on Autoblog

General Motors wants out of Opel, and according to new reports, it is willing to let the German automaker go without receiving any money for it. The only requirement is that the buyer must inject €500 million (around $652M USD) into Opel for operations. While GM CEO Fritz Henderson has said ...

REPORT: GM hedges bets, plans to miss $1B debt payment deadline 7 months ago on Autoblog

The familiar expression goes "Better the devil you know," meaning it's preferable to deal with the nasty things you don't like but are at least familiar with. General Motors, however, doesn't seem to think so. The troubled automaker appears more ready to take its chances with bankruptcy than ...

REPORT: Chrysler Financial turns down government loan over executive pay limit stipulations 7 months ago on Autoblog

Earlier this month Chrysler Financial (CF) turned down a $750 million loan from the government meant to allow it to continue providing loans to dealers. This is where it turns into he-said-she-said: a source told the Washington Post that CF turned the loan down because a condition of the loan was ...

Ford Fiesta winning hearts and minds - and wallets - in Europe 7 months ago on Autoblog

The Ford Fiesta has already won us over -– twice – and we can't even buy the car yet. But European buyers are nabbing so many Fiestas that the Blue Oval is now enjoying a 10% market share in Europe based on the strength of the compact's sales alongside the Focus and Transit. It's ...

GM reportedly accelerating the closure of 1,700 dealers 7 months ago on Autoblog

June 1, 2009 is turning into the equivalent of General Motors' D-Day, and every day seems to bring new events that are being planned in advance of it. GM had more than 6,000 dealerships at the end of last year, and in the initial viability plan it offered to the government, the automaker pledged to ...

GM chairman Kresa admits: "Time is not on our side on trying to get things done out of bankruptcy" 7 months ago on Autoblog

If General Motors' saga were a play by Aeschylus, today marks the day when Kent Kresa, GM's interim chairman, returns from a visit to the Oracle at Delphi and informs everyone that the signs are not auspicious. There's been much talk of the bondholder issues that GM faces, and the news today is ...

Industry analyst says Australian car industry is doomed 7 months ago on Autoblog

Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of Australia's Dog & Lemon Guide, says there's no way around a central fact of Australian automobile production: "Australia's car factories are losing money on every vehicle they make." Because of that, he believes that there is no future for the domestic car ...

GM looking to double sales in China by 2013? 7 months ago on Autoblog

General Motors sold 1.09 million vehicles in China in 2008, and the automaker wants to nearly double that figure to two million by 2013. A GM spokeswoman in China said they'll do that by introducing thirty -- that's right, 30 – "new or upgraded models" over the next five years. The company's ...

U.S. Department of Energy funding for Chevy Volt on hold 7 months ago on Autoblog

Aside from the bridge loans supplied to GM by the federal government, GM had applied for $10.3 billion from the Energy Department. Of that amount, $2.6 billion was meant to be devoted to building the Chevy Volt and two derivatives of it, as well as a third hybrid model. May is when the Energy ...

GM's new offer for bondholders may contain no cash, just equity 7 months ago on Autoblog

GM's most recent offer to its bondholders offered a little bit of cash and a little bit of equity. GM CEO Fritz Henderson's example was that a holder of $1,000 in bonds would end up with $333 and a some equity. After conferring with the Auto Task Force, however, that offer was deemed excessive in ...

Toyota exec says automaker ready for GM bankruptcy 7 months ago on Autoblog

The world's largest automakers are intertwined in a myriad of ways and they need to watch their competitors in both good times and bad. When talk of a GM bankruptcy was first floated, the discussion of the effects naturally led to GM's suppliers. That discussion then led to what the effects would ...

Coachbuilder Karmann files for insolvency 7 months ago on Autoblog

The economy has caught up with Karmann, the independent German builder whose name was most famously applied to Volkswagen's '50s roadster, forcing it to file for insolvency. Most recently the company's 3,470 workers were assembling Audi A4 and Mercedes CLK convertibles. Over its 108-year history ...

GM and AIG: Why bondholders might want bankruptcy 7 months ago on Autoblog

Before we begin, let us state clearly that this is speculation by Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker. Examining the various stakeholders' interests in General Motors, Denninger has come up with a scenario that supposes GM's bondholders might actually want the automaker to file for bankruptcy. The ...

STUDY: 76% of Americans believe economy can survive without GM 7 months ago on Autoblog

According to The Detroit Free Press, Rasmussen Reports called 1,000 people and asked them if they believed "the economy could recover without General Motors in business." The results were clear: 76% of respondents said "Yes, it can." The sentiment against any more taxpayer money being used to ...

Putin Power: Even Russian automakers to get a bailout? 7 months ago on Autoblog

According to The Detroit News, Avtovaz, Russia's largest car maker and the home of Lada, is in line for government help. The Russian car industry is faring even more poorly than its counterpart in the U.S., with a 60% drop in sales being predicted. To assist Avtovaz with payments to creditors, ...

Mulally on Ford: "We are competitive now." 7 months ago on Autoblog

If we were cynics, we could say that Ford just happened to get stuck in deep doo-doo when America's credit markets were still reasonably flexible. When Ford leveraged all of its assets, right down to its logo, the most difficult part was probably not getting the money, it was probably swallowing ...

Rumormill: Obama will set a deadline for GM and Chrysler to address issues or enter Chapter 11 7 months ago on Autoblog

GM and Chrysler have until Tuesday to complete the financial restructuring demanded by the government under the terms of the bridge loans. It is unlikely that they will make that target. The sticking point for GM is unwillingness on the part of bondholders to agree to what's being asked: GM needs ...

Ratan Tata: Jaguar/Land Rover needs 500 million from the UK government to prevent layoffs 7 months ago on Autoblog

Ratan Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) expecting to pick them up and help them fly. Instead, as with nearly every other car manufacturer, he's having to dig them out of a deepening hole. From last December through next month, 1,800 employees have either been laid off, released or asked ...

Early March sales figures said to be down around 40% 8 months ago on Autoblog

While there are folks predicting a turnaround in car sales and general economic fortunes by the end of this year, for now the status quo remains, and it can be summed up as: "Ouch." J.D. Power has put the early returns for March sales down 40% compared to the same month last year. It predicts sales ...

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Autoblog Podcast #153: With Phil Berg

Phil Berg puts his reputation on the line and hangs with the podcast crew.

 
 

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