S&P 500
7,226.20
+0.01%
Dow Jones
49,494.60
-0.62%
Nasdaq 100
27,685.40
+0.66%
Russell 2000
2,804.78
-0.02%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,260.50
-0.78%

Cars and Drivers

Chrysler: The Great Genius Of Kerkorian

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

The offer that billionaire Kirk Kerkorian has made to buy Chrysler from parent DaimlerChrysler (DCX) is nothing short of brilliant.

Kerkorian has in essence trumped three other offers from private equity firms and Canadian parts company Magna but offering to make the labor unions at Chrysler his partners.

While the $4.5 billion offer appears low by most estimates, it offers Daimler a way out by not selling the company to a group that would be at odds with unions over job cuts from the start. Half of Daimler’s board is made up of employee representatives. Union officials have voiced strong concerns that a private equity firm would simply break Chrysler into pieces and eliminate tens of thousands of jobs.

By contrast, Kerkorian will play spider to the UAW’s fly. He is offering unions a large part of the ownership in Chrysler in exchange for concessions on employment levels, pensions, and benefits.

What Kerkorian understands, and it putting on the table up-front, is that any owner will cut jobs at Chrysler. The UAW knows that as well.

But, Kerkorian is willing to offer something in exchange for the pain.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Why Your 401(k) Could Trigger a Tax Bomb in Retirement (And What to Do Now)
Jeremy Phillips |

Why Your 401(k) Could Trigger a Tax Bomb in Retirement (And What to Do Now)
"Did you buy It from the mob?": Dave Ramsey hosts floored by 21-year-old's 30% truck loan
Jeremy Phillips |

"Did you buy It from the mob?": Dave Ramsey hosts floored by 21-year-old's 30% truck loan

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Private Equity Eyeballs Chrysler, Again

The Financial Times says that Cerberus Capital Management, Carlyle, Apollo Management and Ripplewood are looking at Chrysler (DCX). And, recently…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Daimler Board Factions Attacks Private Equity Deal

Private equity firms have been circling Chrysler in the hopes of getting a cut-rate deal for the US arm of…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

GM And UAW Gang Up On Daimler

Reuters reports that The Times has found out from sources inside GM (GM) that it will not bid for Daimler…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Why Daimler Wanted Out Of Chrysler

S&P auto analysts came out with a report late last week that indicated a poor US economy could derail any…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

What Is Chrysler Worth? $6 Billion To $7 Billion

It now appears likely that Daimler (DCX) will probably figure out a way to Chrysler to the a private equity…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

UAW Kisses Off Delphi, A Sign Of Things To Come

The UAW told Delphi, the bankrupt car parts company, to take a hike. The labor contract offer from Delphi was…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Could GM Get Chrysler Cheap

DaimlerChrysler’s (DCX) unions are objecting to the company selling its US arm, Chrysler, to private equity interests. Labor representatives hold…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Awash In Debt, Private Equity Face $400 Billion In Payouts

New date from S&P LCD presented by the FT, shows that large private equity firms have $400 billion in debt…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Chrysler: The Unions Watch For The Squeeze Play

The head of DaimlerChrysler told the Financial Times that he did not like the treatment his company is getting from…

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618