A buncha e-mails say yes. Remember the fun times of about eight months ago, when the economy was going in the basement and all these unlikely mergers of huge financial firms happened? Well, Bank of America’s takeover of Merrill Lynch was one. And according to e-mails between the feds and the firm, they may have been pressured into it by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. After the deal went through, BofA’s shares took a nosedive and the government had to bail them out big time. 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
It’s not the first entry for Microsoft. They do this about once a year. I don’t think Bing’s arrival has changed what we’re doing. We are about search, we’re about making things enormously successful, by virtue of innovation.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt • Who says that, despite Bing’s early popularity, they’re not a threat and will “evolve to a different strategy” that won’t affect Google. In other words, MS is rattling their cage again and not really hurting anyone. • source
Wow. That was unexpected. The one thing that could stop the Chrysler/Fiat sale just happened. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delayed the sale “pending further order.” Three Indiana state pension and construction funds were among the foremost opponents of the sale, which they felt left them financially out of the loop. The final sale, which the bankrupt company was counting on, could be delayed for weeks while the court makes a decision. Stay tuned to this Spidey-station. source