Blogs Speak: Chrysler Takeover

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"Chrysler will now be run by people who want to make money, period," the commentator writes, "not make money and then transfer it to another division's budget line and pretend they're losing money, as it APPEARS Daimler has been doing." He also raises the question that if Cerberus were to work its political connections maybe it could get some lucrative contracts to get Jeep building vehicles for the military again.

Attitudes about Cerberus appear to be mixed. While many bloggers are skeptical that Cerberus will get Chrysler back on its feet again without massive layoffs and still manage to create a whole new fleet of exciting cars, most are keeping their fingers crossed. On The Moderate Voice, the blogger writes, "Cerberus, a private equity investment firm run by former Treasury Secretary John Snow, doesn't know squat about making cars, although it does have a stake in GMAC, General Motors' (GM) financing arm. It apparently knows a great deal about making money, and obviously believes it can wring the losses out of Chrysler, which it bought for a song, and have itself a dandy windfall of a winner."

David Leggett on just-auto points out "a pithy comment in USA Today": "This is not going to be a 'strip and flip,'" said Joseph Phillippi, president of AutoTrends Consulting. Chrysler "is not a 90-day wonder," Phillippi says in USA Today, the blogger notes.

Everybody Hates Daimler

Other bloggers think that Cerberus is throwing its money away trying to save Chrysler. Johnny Debacle on the blog Long or Short Capital opines that there are better ways to spend $7.5 billion, such as donating $1,000 in malt liquor money to each member of the U.S. homeless population or making Spiderman 3 24.67 times.

Where nearly every blogger is united, however, is in complete contempt for Daimler, which is alternately portrayed as arrogant, deceitful, clueless, incompetent, dismissive of U.S. workers, and financially reckless.

Some bloggers were even able to find the humor in Daimler's fire-sale pricing. Scrappleface wrote, "FOR SALE: Used Chrysler, 82 yrs old, recently owned by German family for rec use only. Carries 80,000 passengers plus heavy union baggage. Some rust. Runs. Bought 9 yrs ago at $36 billion. U can own it today at $7.4 billion OBO. Act now and we'll throw in $18 billion in long-term liabilities, no extra charge. Ask for Dieter."