Categories: Finance

A Motown headache for Cerberus

Posted by: David Welch on August 31

If there’s any lesson from the downfall of Detroit’s carmakers over the past several years, it’s that it’s that the smart money can’t find an easy solution to Motown’s...

GM's stock symbol is still live

Posted by: David Welch on June 04

Want a sign that the world is turned on its head? Go to our ‘companies’ page and type in General Motors Corp’s ticker symbol GM. You won’t get General...

GM bondholders refuse to budge, making bankruptcy likely

Posted by: David Welch on May 27

General Motors is on a collision course for bankruptcy. The company said this morning that it didn’t get 90% of its bondholders, who collectively hold $27.2 billion in GM debt...

Mazda's stock surges

Posted by: Ian Rowley on March 16

It's been a miserable few months for Japan's automakers and Mazda is no exception. On Mar. 3, its stock reached a three-decade low amid concerns over its finances. Like all...

Now Toyota wants a government loan

Posted by: Ian Rowley on March 02

Even after recent downgrades Toyota's credit rating remains the envy of other automakers. After all, before Moody's and S&P cut its ratings in February, the company was one of only...

Toyota City feels the pain

Posted by: Ian Rowley on December 09

Japan’s automakers aren't seeking bailout, but Toyota's hometown may soon need a helping hand. According to reports in the local media, Toyota City expects its tax income this year to...

Toyota credit rating cut for the first time in a decade

Posted by: Ian Rowley on November 26

It's not then end of the world, but Fitch Ratings decision today to cut Toyota's AAA credit rating back to AA is yet more bad news for Japan's number one...

Toyota's Terrible Horrible Awful Quarter

Posted by: David Kiley on August 06

Looking ahead to tomorrow's quarterly earnings report from Toyota, the estimate is that the automaker's operating earnings will PLUNGE 40%. But that would be a PLUNGE to about $3.6 billion,...

Kerkorian gets his Ford shares, and could get much, much more

Posted by: David Welch on June 13

If he wanted it, billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian could grab a huge stake in Ford Motor Co. Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. investment firm said on Tuesday that 826 million of...

A Bearish Look at Detroit's Bulls

Posted by: David Welch on June 02

You don’t have to go too far to find a pundit who will take a shot at Detroit’s carmakers. But today, two investment writers have gone bullish on General...

Japan's auto stocks take a kicking

Posted by: Ian Rowley on January 21

One aspect of being a journalist at BusinessWeek is that we're not supposed to buy shares in the companies we write about. Indeed, each year in January, BusinessWeek asks us...

Toyota's projected op earnings bigger than GM's market cap

Posted by: Ian Rowley on November 07

Wednesdays's contrasting results announcements once again highlighted the huge earnings gulf between Toyota and GM. For the six months through September, Toyota's operating earnings rose 16.3% to $11.2 billion, while...

BMW's Margin Squeeze

Posted by: Gail Edmondson on November 06

BMW third-quarter results, released Nov. 6, provoked fury among analysts and investors. Its battered shares were down nearly 5% by the end of the day. No one can understand...

VW's Pedal-to-the-Metal Profits

Posted by: Gail Edmondson on October 26

Nine months after a management shake-up at Volkswagen, sales and profit are on a major rebound. And CEO Martin Winterkorn has hardly rolled up his sleeves yet. VW's group...

Free Loans in China

Posted by: David Welch on August 22

No matter how bad the news from is in Detroit, General Motors can always brag about its success in China. Indeed, its swift rise to become the emerging market’s...

VW's Secret Additive

Posted by: Gail Edmondson on July 30

Volkswagen is riding more smoothly from quarter to quarter, now that management has rammed through some tough cost-reduction measures in Germany. Operating profit for the first half of 2007 (before...

GM's pickup problem

Posted by: David Welch on May 10

By now, many industry watchers figured that General Motors would be showing better progress. The company took out about $7 billion in costs from its North American business over...

The Politics of Executive Pay

Posted by: David Welch on April 27

General Motors is going to have some explaining to do. A lot of explaining. As the auto maker gears up for what could be a landmark round of bargaining...

Kerkorian Returns

Posted by: David Welch on April 06

OK, I’ll do a mea culpa here. When I wrote on this blog a few weeks ago that former Chrysler Corp. CFO Jerome York was doing some due diligence...

An old acquaintance knocks at Chrysler

Posted by: David Welch on March 20

The hip thing for ex-Chrysler execs to do these days is advise someone bidding to buy the company. Another big name has surfaced. None other than former Chrysler CFO...

Detroit's intractable problem

Posted by: David Welch on February 12

For about a month now, analysts and media have been clattering about the potential for big health care concessions from the United Auto Workers union in this year’s contract...

OK, the yen matters

Posted by: David Welch on January 08

If there’s one subject that gets a General Motors executive snarling, it’s the yen-to-dollar exchange rate. They have been bleating for years that Japan’s central bank manipulates the currency,...