Imagine the car Mark Hamill is driving is GM. Imagine the cloud of bankruptcy is the black car. And imagine Annie Potts as the government, yawing its way through the whole emergence from bankruptcy. And keep in mind that this 1978 movie is called “Corvette Summer.” And that this morning, GM finally got rid of the jerk tailing them and got Annie Potts home.source
Not only for the three plus years that I’ve been here, but really since Premier Parks bought Six Flags from Time Warner, the word ‘debt’ has been associated with the Six Flags name and we’re looking to disconnect that.
Six Flags CEO Mark Shapiro • Regarding the amusement park company’s decision to go into bankruptcy. Here’s why this quote is notable, guys. After we posted about their bankruptcy, the company got a hold of us and numerous other bloggers offering the opportunity to join in a conference call. (That’s right, specifically for bloggers!) We couldn’t take part ourselves, but many other bloggers did and asked some great questions. Best part? Rather than simply looking to sugarcoat the details, Shapiro was honest, detailed and often blunt. The company will not close any parks and was profitable last year, but hopes to ease out of bankruptcy by the end of the year. More companies need to do this. Seriously. • source
They’re not going away completely, but they are cutting back. One of the most obvious public exponents of General Motors may be its role in the hugely popular NASCAR. GM, largely represented by Chevy, will take a step back, cutting funds from some big stars’ teams (Dale Jr. and Kevin Harvick) and overall doing less. NASCAR’s already been hit hard by the global crisis, with many job losses in the last year. This is just another chink in the Armor-All. source
Last night, the Supreme Court pushed the biggest obstacle out of the way for the merger of the century … well, until GM has to do something similar. source
This morning, Fiat officially owns 20% of Chrysler, a share that could go up to 35% if it goes well. The UAW owns the biggest share, however, at 55%. source
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne sounds upbeat about the sale: “This is a very significant day … for the global automotive industry as a whole,” he said. source
Our assessment of the stay factors here is based on the record and proceedings in this case alone.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg • In her four-paragraph decision in “Indiana State Police Pension Trust v. Chrysler LLC,” which was the main roadblock in the way of the Chrysler-Fiat sale. Why the wording? It’s likely they didn’t want to set a standard for any sort of GM sale. The decision, by the way, hinged on whether Chrysler was being discriminatory towards the pension program in its actions, which it wasn’t. Everyone’s getting screwed the same way. • source