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Old 04-08-2006, 08:04 AM   #1 (permalink)
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Wsj: Gm Update

Link: wsj.com

The Wall Street Journal ran an update on General Motors today.


THE MAIN EVENT

General Motors Corp. sold off a majority stake in its finance arm last week -- the latest sign that the country's largest auto maker is struggling for air.

The sale of a 51% stake in General Motors Acceptance Corp. to Cerberus Capital Management LP wasn't a surprise. GMAC was a key lifeline for GM, earning nearly 80% of General Motors' total net income in 2004. But the ailing auto company badly needed the estimated $14 billion that the deal will provide. Also, GMAC needed to be freed from GM's declining credit rating.

Problems have been mounting at GM over the past year. Last year, the company posted a $10.6 billion loss. In May, credit-rating agencies downgraded GM's corporate debt to junk-bond status. In November, GM announced a major restructuring plan that aims to cut 30,000 U.S. jobs and close 12 U.S. facilities by 2008. Last month, GM announced one of the largest corporate buyouts in history by offering 131,000 employees and the employees of its largest parts supplier, Delphi Corp., money in exchange for early retirement. Adding to the woes, the workers at Delphi are threatening to strike, which could cost GM billions.

The big questions now: whether Chief Executive Rick Wagoner can survive the storm and whether the company can avoid bankruptcy. Large investors -- and Jerry York, the director who represents the company's single largest shareholder, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian -- are increasingly impatient. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating accounting errors at GM, and a federal grand jury has subpoenaed GM in connection with retroactive price adjustments that it received from Delphi.

Here is a look at GM's biggest problems:

High costs: GM often blames health-care and pension costs for many of its woes. In 2005, GM spent $5.4 billion on health care for 1.1 million people, about 460,000 of them retirees. That is about 0.4% of the entire U.S. health-care bill. No other U.S. company spends as much.

But even without retiree and health-care costs, GM is still a high-cost producer. It takes GM about 23 hours to build a car, versus approximately 18 hours for Nissan Motor Co. Also, GM has about 7,500 workers in its "Jobs Bank" program who remain on the payroll even though they no longer work for the company.

Heavy use of incentives: For years, GM has been using sales incentives -- like discounts and rebates -- to lure consumers to buy their autos. Incentives can cut into profit margins but also prop up market share. In 2000, GM spent on average $1,965 on incentives per vehicle. In 2005, it jumped to $3,896, nearly 40% more than the industry average and about 300% more than some Japanese manufacturers.

Last year, Mr. Wagoner announced that GM would shift away from the incentive strategy to one that offers lower sticker prices. GM says its new pricing strategy has helped reduce discounts and lift revenue per vehicle on certain high-volume models. But GM's overall U.S. sales volume is down 5.2% for the year, and it continues to lose market share to Toyota Motor Corp., which has long surpassed GM's market value.

Falling SUV demand: In 2004, total sales of full-size sport-utility vehicles topped one million, a 60% increase from 1998. SUV sales helped GM improve sluggish sales. The profit margin on a typical full-size SUV is about $10,000 a vehicle, compared with about $3,000 for a midsize sedan. But last year, full-size-SUV sales dropped 19%, in part because of record-high gasoline prices.

Lack of appeal: Last year, GM had about 26% of the market, down from 33% in 1995. Part of this loss relates to consumer tastes. Nine of the top 10 choices in the 2005 annual ranking of cars and trucks by Consumer Reports magazine, which measured a range of aspects, were from foreign manufacturers.


POINTS OF VIEW

"The bumps along the road ahead are numerous and jarring: global overcapacity, falling prices, rapidly escalating health-care costs, unstable fuel prices [and] increasing competition every year."
--GM's 2004 annual report

The buyout "is a painful option for the union but it is the best option..."
--Harley Shaiken, professor and labor expert at University of California, Berkeley

"In the context of history, the last six months are going to prove to be pivotal. This is about restructuring our business so we can be robustly profitable in the future -- so we're not so balanced on a razor's edge."
--Rick Wagoner, GM CEO, earlier this month

"I don't think just because we appear calm in public doesn't mean that we don't have a tremendous sense of impatience and urgency."
--Robert Lutz, GM vice chairman

"A strike is bad for us, but it will kill you."
--Robert "Steve" Miller, Delphi CEO, to GM's Mr. Wagoner


FACTS

Every GM vehicle built in the U.S. includes about $1,500 in health-care costs -- typically more than the value of the steel in the same vehicle. Japanese auto makers pay about $450 in health-care costs per vehicle.

Workers at GM earn an average hourly wage of nearly $26, about 70% more than the average manufacturing wage. Including health-care and pension costs, GM's total average hourly labor cost per U.S. factory worker is about $70 an hour.

Silver has been the most popular color for cars for six consecutive years in North America. White was the most popular color in 1995. The Model T was available "in any color, so long as it's black," according to Henry Ford.

Four years ago, GM executives were wearing lapel pins embossed with the number 29 to signify their commitment to achieving 29% market share. With 2005 market share at 26% -- and falling -- most of the pins are stored away.

In 1955, GM became one of the first U.S. corporations to have $1 billion in net income. In 2005, it came in third in the Fortune 100 ranking of the nation's largest companies, with annual revenue of $192.6 billion, behind Exxon Mobil Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Membership in the United Auto Workers union is on the decline. Active membership among the Big Three auto makers is around 270,000. In 1970, it was about 800,000.
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Old 04-08-2006, 09:05 AM   #2 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Quote:
Originally Posted by Perian
Silver has been the most popular color for cars for six consecutive years in North America. White was the most popular color in 1995. The Model T was available "in any color, so long as it's black," according to Henry Ford.
Okay, now I've seen it all. Just WTF does this have to do with the malaise at General Motors???

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Old 04-08-2006, 10:07 AM   #3 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomko
Okay, now I've seen it all. Just WTF does this have to do with the malaise at General Motors???

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:-D, hahahahaha, PRICELESS!!
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Old 04-08-2006, 10:36 AM   #4 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Quote:
Originally Posted by Perian
Silver has been the most popular color for cars for six consecutive years in North America. White was the most popular color in 1995. The Model T was available "in any color, so long as it's black," according to Henry Ford.
Hmm, was someone cutting and pasting from old articles? It looks like this is from an article in 2001. Why would they tell us the most popular color from 1995, and then jump to 2000-2006? 1995-2001 makes more sense.

Regardless, the fact that this is so out of context is hilarious.
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Old 04-08-2006, 10:49 AM   #5 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

So if GM was third last year in revenue, then apparently they are selling vehicles despite the media hype. Their problems seem to all be in operating costs.
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Old 04-08-2006, 11:36 AM   #6 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

I have a strange feeling GM will get things turned around without resorting to bankruptcy.
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Old 04-08-2006, 12:23 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Here's hoping that they return to profitability w/out going into bankruptcy... I believe they can... but, I am getting tired of hearing co-workers and others that know I'm a GM fan telling me, "Will you be disappointed if GM files for bankruptcy?"..... Come on!!! Once a GM'er always a GM'er... they have to do some serious malarkey to get me off of the GM bandwagon...
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Old 04-08-2006, 01:44 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

hopefully there will be some good news for GM soon. i don't like having to question whether or not this dealership will be here 5 years from now.
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Old 04-08-2006, 01:52 PM   #9 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Don't worry, GM still will be here, there is no doubt in my mind. GM is an American icon, a symbol of America.
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Old 04-08-2006, 02:28 PM   #10 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

I hope this year they make it at least a little bit into the blacks, no more red
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Old 04-08-2006, 03:03 PM   #11 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

I wonder how much money short sellers are shoving in pockets of these 'reporters'???
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Old 04-08-2006, 03:14 PM   #12 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Quote:
Originally Posted by Perian
In 2005, it came in third in the Fortune 100 ranking of the nation's largest companies, with annual revenue of $192.6 billion, behind Exxon Mobil Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
$192.6B in revenues for 2005? Wow. A penny here and a penny there and we should begin to see healthy profits of $10-20B per year.

Act like a "start-up" and we should see vigourus growth. React, and act with cat-like nimbleness.
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Old 04-08-2006, 03:20 PM   #13 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

Despite all the bad news and marketshare % loss, GM sold it's second highest amount of vehicles last year in it's history. All these negative articles completely gloss over that fact. Who cares what your marketshare is when you're actually selling more vehicles?
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Old 04-08-2006, 10:13 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Re: Wsj: Gm Update

The media tends to "leave out" the fact that GM is selling more cars worldwide than it ever has....
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Old 04-08-2006, 10:38 PM   #15 (permalink)
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Auditors

Reuters
Navistar fires long-time auditors; to restate profits
Friday April 7, 5:22 pm ET


CHICAGO (Reuters) - Truckmaker Navistar International Corp. (NYSE:NAV - News), which earlier this year had blamed its long-time auditor for a delay in filing its annual report, said on Friday it has fired the auditor and will restate earnings going back to 2002 to fix accounting errors.

The Warrenville, Illinois-based company said its audit committee had terminated its 98-year relationship with Deloitte and Touche and hired KPMG as its new independent auditor.

Earlier this year, Navistar failed to file its Form 10K annual report with U.S. regulators and blamed the delay on differences with Deloitte over "complex and technical accounting issues."

"KPMG represents a fresh look," said Navistar spokesman Roy Wiley.

The dismissal ends a nearly century-long partnership between the two companies. Deloitte -- or one of its predecessors -- had continuously served as Navistar's accountants in one form or another since 1908, Wiley said, just six years after Navistar was founded as International Harvester.

But if the firing brings closure to a distracting dispute, it doesn't end the uncertainty for Navistar investors. The company, which also makes buses, said again on Friday that it doesn't know when it will file its annual report.

Navistar, which in late February had hinted that a restatement might be coming, said it would restate earnings for the years 2002 to 2004 and for the first three quarters of the 2005 fiscal year ended October 31.

Navistar said the items requiring correction included the way it had timed the booking of certain receivables, the way it accounted for warranties honored after they had technically expired, and the way it had shifted balances and expense amounts between reporting periods at one of its foundries.

Navistar said the known adjustments will not affect its previously reported cash flows from operations on a restated basis, but gave no further details on the impact of the restatement.

It said it was continuing to review its financials and it was likely that additional items requiring correction would emerge.

The company also said James Blanda, a former president of the Chicago Stock Exchange, was joining the company as interim corporate controller.

Navistar also said March orders for its Class 8 trucks -- the largest on-highway trucks -- were "at record levels" and said medium truck orders were the highest the company had seen in 30 years.

Navistar shares closed down 6 cents at $27.90 on the New York Stock Exchange.

On Thursday, Navistar had said it was suspending purchases of its shares by its retirement plans because the delay in filing its 10K meant the registration statements that covered the plans and the shares those plans purchased were no longer "available for use."

The delay had also prompted some Navistar bondholders to claim the company was in default on its debt and forced retiring Chief Financial Officer Robert Lannert to stay on even as he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosed last summer.
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Worth Repeating...

As auditors for Parmalat and Adelphia, Deloitte was guilty of a dereliction of duty and failed to properly protect the shareholders from fraud.

"Parmalat discloses an account in the Cayman Islands supposedly worth nearly $5 Billion is fake"
New York Times

After Mr Wagoner answered that Deloitte has been our auditors for 70 years, my suggestion at the Annual Meeting was to "rotate the audit company every three years". Although this would not serve as a cure all to the issue of discovering and correcting fraud and corruption at General Motors, it is a logical first step, and would at least provide the appearance of an arm's length relationship.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Wagoner replied, "thank you Mr. Dollinger" and did nothing.

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