GM Will Sell Opel to Magna After All

After mulling over Opel’s fate at length, General Motors confirmed that it will sell 55% of the German carmaker to Canadian car-parts maker Magna International and Russian bank OAO Sperbank. But financing issues remain that won’t be resolved for “the next few weeks.” Under the deal, GM will retain a 35% stake in Opel and sister company Vauxhall, while employees will take a 10% stake.

GM, under heavy pressure from the German government to resolve the question before upcoming elections, had pondered other options, including holding on to Opel or selling it to Belgian investment firm RHJ International. The decision was welcomed by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Berlin has provided $2.16 billion in bridge loans to keep Opel going while the deal was being hammered out.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Google Proposes Micropayment System for News

The Internet giant has proposed a system under which online publishers could charge for content, according to a document posted by Harvard University’s Nieman Journalism Lab. The proposal was made in response to a request for information sent to “qualified providers” by the Newspaper Association of America, as part of an increasingly heated discussion between publishers and online outlets that offer their content for free. Google suggested that publishers could “tag” different articles on its site with different levels of pricing, and that Google’s Checkout service could be used to manage micropayments.

Sources: MarketWatch.com

Preventing the Next Madoff

The Securities & Exchange Commission’s internal watchdog, H. David Kotz, may offer as many as 40 measures to help the agency improve oversight and intercept future Ponzi schemesters. In testimony prepared for the Senate Banking Committee, Kotz says he may propose that staff be require to confirm random samples of trading data to make sure money managers are actually trading. He also said the SEC should assign staff with “appropriate skills and expertise” to investigations of financial firms. .

Sources: MarketWatch.com

Obama Makes His Case

Declaring that “the time for bickering is over,” U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a highly-anticipated address to the U.S. Congress on Sept. 9 laying out his proposals to reform health care and urging lawmakers to move forward on legislation. Over boos and shouts from some Republicans, Obama cast many of his opponents as cynical and called some of the criticisms of reform proposals lies. He pledged to keep reforms from adding to the deficit, and attempted to reassure a worried and confused public with his own determination. In his emotional, sometimes contentious speech, Obama combined tough talk to opponents with olive branches on policy in a bid to break the impasse on revamping the health-care system. The president promised to tackle the problem of medical malpractice insurance and reiterated his backing for a so-called “public option” for healthcare coverage, estimating the cost of the plan at $900 billion over 10 years. Some business groups immediately attacked the proposals.

Sources: Washington Post, BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal

Apple’s Jobs Returns to Limelight with New Products

Judging by the response of some Apple fans, the company’s Sept. 9 digital music event in San Francisco was disappointing. There was no tablet computer, no Beatles catalog on iTunes. Instead, Apple introduced an update to iTunes, a new iPod Nano with a built-in camera, and price cuts on some models. But the clear high point was the return of charismatic CEO Steve Jobs, who spoke publicly about his recent liver transplant and thanked the donor for saving his life.

Sources: BusinessWeek, New York Times

GM Decision on Opel, Vauxhall Expected Thursday

General Motors confirmed early Sept. 10 that it will announce today a decision in its protracted effort to sell off its German Opel unit. The company’s board met Tuesday and Wednesday, and will put an end to months of suspense by revealing whether it will hang onto the business or sell it to either of two bidders. Separately, press reports indicated that GM has decided not to spin off its British Vauxhall unit.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Times of London

U.S. Foreclosures Drop Slightly, But Still Near Record

Figures released Sept. 10 by real estate data firm RealtyTrac showed that U.S. mortgage foreclosure filings dipped less than 1% in August from their all-time high in July but were still 18% above their level a year earlier. RealtyTrac predicted that foreclosures will continue to rise for another year, despite broad efforts to keep borrowers in their homes. Most of the problem remains centered in hard-hit states such as Arizona and Nevada, RealtyTrac said.

Source: Reuters, Washington Post

No Big Fix for Global Finance

World leaders have talked bravely about fixing the global financial system. But as they head into a highly anticipated G-20 summit later this month in Pittsburg, their plans appear to be far less ambitious than what some voices were advocating as recently as last spring. Improvements in the global economy and financial markets have sapped momentum from reformers. But industry insiders such as Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein also are talking up self-restraint.

Sources: BusinessWeek, Wall Street Journal

Brazilian Oil Find Could ‘Dwarf’ BP’s Mexico Strike

The potential for Brazil to become one of the biggest oil producers in the world was highlighted Sept. 9 when BG, the former exploration arm of British Gas, reported a “supergiant” field with up to two billion barrels of recoverable reserves. The Guara discovery builds on a series of other major successes in very deep waters off Brazil and dwarfs rival strikes such as Tiber in the U.S. Gulf, which was announced with great fanfare by BP last week.

Source: Guardian

Europeans Reconsider Carbon Tax

Economists have long favored a carbon tax because of its simplicity: Polluters pay at a level that is set by decree. But the idea never caught on in the United States or Europe, which opted instead for the market-based cap-and-trade mechanism. Now, amid signs that progress in meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets has been only modest, carbon tax schemes are making something of a comeback among policymakers.

Source: New York Times

Bharti and MTN Agree to Terms of $24 Billion Merger

Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s biggest mobile-phone company, and South Africa’s MTN Group Ltd. reached a $24 billion preliminary accord to buy each other’s shares, the first step in a planned merger, three people familiar with the matter said. The world’s biggest cross-border deal this year would pave the way for the creation of a mobile-phone carrier with annual sales of $20 billion and 200 million wireless subscribers from Johannesburg to Mumbai.

Source: Bloomberg

Can Motorola Save Itself with Android Smartphones?

After floundering for three years in search of a turnaround, the inventor of cellular phone technology and one-time market leader will unveil a new line of smartphones Sept. 10 based on the Android operating system from Google. Will the new models be enough to revive Moto’s fortunes—or too little, too late?

Source: MarketWatch