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Chrysler LLC


Self Description

October 2007: "For proof positive that change is a good thing, step back to May 14, 2007, when Cerberus, a private equity firm renowned for its forward-thinking approach to business, agreed to take over a majority interest in Chrysler Group."

http://www.chryslerllc.com/aboutus/cerberus/

Third-Party Descriptions

June 2010: "WASHINGTON — First there was General Motors, whose chief executive was summarily dismissed by the White House shortly before the government became the company’s majority shareholder. Chrysler was forced into a merger. At the banks that received government bailouts, executive pay was curbed; at insurance companies seeking to jack up premiums, scathing criticism led to rollbacks."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/us/18assess.html

July 2009: '“If my dealership is not restored, we will lose everything — including college savings for my children and my home,” James Tarbox, who lost two Chrysler dealerships in Rhode Island, said on the second day of a House Judiciary Committee hearing about the dealership cuts.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/business/23auto.html

July 2009: "The head of President Obama’s automotive task force warned members of Congress on Tuesday that reversing or stopping the closure of thousands of General Motors and Chrysler dealerships could threaten their turnarounds and keep the companies from repaying billions in government loans."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/business/22auto.html

June 2009: "Courts typically allow companies under bankruptcy protection to leave claims behind in bankruptcy and emerge with a clean slate, a precedent G.M. and the government are relying upon. Chrysler, which completed a government-backed restructuring this month, left both product liability claims and unwanted dealers with its old estate, now known as Old CarCo. Claims left behind in bankruptcy generally have a slim chance of being paid."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/28/business/28gm.html

June 2009: "NEW YORK, June 9 -- The U.S. Supreme Court last night declined to hear an appeal from opponents of the sale of Chrysler's assets to Italian automaker Fiat, clearing the way for the government-backed transaction to take place immediately."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/09/AR2009060902598.html

June 2009: 'Should the Indiana pension funds have foreseen the risks ahead? With their Chrysler investment, those public employees became unlikely associates of the hedge fund managers and other bankers whom President Obama blasted on national television in late April as "a small group of speculators" trying to block the government's attempts to revive Chrysler. They arrived in that position last July when the funds paid 43¢ on the dollar, or about $17 million, for approximately $42 million worth of Chrysler's almost $7 billion in secured debt. Pension funds moved into riskier plays'

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jun2009/db2009064_137151.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

June 2009: "A federal appeals court agreed late Tuesday to hear an appeal of Chrysler’s sale to Fiat, after a lower court judge approved the move to help expedite the process."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/business/04chrysler.html

June 2009: "The chief executive of G.M., Fritz Henderson, and the vice chairman of Chrysler, James E. Press, said dealerships that sold a smaller number of vehicles weighed down their companies. A more streamlined corps of dealers, they said, was vital for survival."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/business/04dealers.html

June 2009: "When Chrysler emerges — while General Motors is entering bankruptcy protection — it will have a new ownership structure, with a union retiree trust owning 55 percent, Fiat holding a 20 percent share that could eventually grow to 35 percent, and the United States and Canadian governments owning minority stakes."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/business/01chrysler.html

May 2009: "Many of [the dealers] fighting the hardest are dealers who recently spent huge amounts of money to stay in the company’s good graces, who sacrificed their own profits to help keep the company intact or who otherwise thought they had bent over backward to ensure that Chrysler could survive, only to learn that they were the ones who would not."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/23dealers.html

December 2008: 'The language of the loan agreement sets specific "restructuring targets" that General Motors and Chrysler must use their "best efforts" to meet. Compensation must be made "competitive" to that of nonunion workers, and work rules must be "competitive" with those at nonunion plants. The companies also must reduce compensation to workers who have been laid off -- the jobs bank -- and at least half of the company's payments into retiree health care must be made in stock, not cash. If the companies fall short of those targets, they are required to explain why.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/19/AR2008121903856.html

December 2008: "The legislation would have provided emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler, which have said they face imminent collapse without federal help. The high-stakes talks broke down over when the wages of union workers would be slashed to the same level as those paid to nonunion workers at U.S. plants of foreign automakers such as Toyota and Honda."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121101578.html

July 2008: "Because of their union contracts, G.M., Ford and Chrysler are obligated to pay workers more than half of their regular take-home wages, plus health benefits, with state unemployment benefits picking up a portion of the rest."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/business/03auto.html

October 2007: Frederick W. Hoffman, the director of state relations for Chrysler, said, “Our particular concern is that there be multiple owners, and thus more competition in the costs.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/us/12cnd-bridge.html

October 2007: Once the deadline at Chrysler is past, the union could strike the company, or it could extend its contract hour to hour, as it initially did at G.M., said one person with knowledge of the talks. These people spoke on anonymity because the discussions are private.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/business/08auto.html

October 2007: "Chrysler LLC is an American automobile manufacturer that has been producing automobiles since 1925 and from 1914 under the Dodge name. From 1998 to 2007, Chrysler and its subsidiaries were part of the German based DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG) after an arduous deal dubbed a "Merger of Equals" in 1998. Prior to 1998, Chrysler Corporation traded under the "C" symbol on the NYSE. Under DaimlerChrysler, the company was named "DaimlerChrysler Motors Company LLC", with its U.S. operations generally referred to as the "Chrysler Group".

On May 14, 2007 DaimlerChrysler AG announced the sale of 80.1% of Chrysler Group to American equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., although Daimler continues to hold a 19.9% stake. Chrysler LLC is the new name. The deal was finalized on August 3, 2007" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler

Relationships

RoleNameTypeLast Updated
Owned by (partial or full, past or present) Cerberus Capital Management Organization Oct 12, 2007
Cooperation (past or present) Opponent (past or present) Committee of Chrysler Affected Dealers Organization May 23, 2009
Owner of (partial or full, past or present) Status/Name Change from DaimlerChrysler Organization Oct 12, 2007
Organization Head/Leader (past or present) C. Robert Kidder Person Jun 2, 2009

Articles and Resources

Date Fairness.com Resource Read it at:
Jun 17, 2010 Obama’s Twist of BP’s Arm Stirs Debate on Frequent Tactic

QUOTE: President Obama’s successful move to force BP to establish a $20 billion compensation fund that the company will have no voice in allocating — just a down payment, the president insisted — may have been the most vivid example of what he recently called his determination to step in and do “what individuals couldn’t do and corporations wouldn’t do.” With that display of raw arm-twisting, Mr. Obama reinvigorated a debate about the renewed reach of government power, or, alternatively, the power of government overreach.

 New York Times
Jul 22, 2009 Chrysler and G.M. Defend Dealer Cuts to Congress

QUOTE: A Chrysler executive told members of Congress on Wednesday that legislation to reopen the 789 dealerships that the company cut last month could force it out of business. But Chrysler and General Motors dealers urged the lawmakers to undo decisions that they said had made no sense and were destroying people’s livelihoods. Two dealers said they were facing the prospect of personal bankruptcies.

 New York Times
Jul 21, 2009 Obama Auto Adviser Tells Lawmakers Not to Undo Dealer Closings

QUOTE: The official, Ron Bloom, also said the government no longer needed to guarantee the warranties on G.M. and Chrysler vehicles, now that the companies had come out of bankruptcy protection....Reopening dealerships would raise “enormous legal concerns, to say nothing of the substantial financial burden it would place on the companies,” he continued. “Political intervention could also jeopardize taxpayer returns by making it far more difficult for the companies to access private capital markets where there is ongoing uncertainty about the rules of the game.”

 New York Times
Jun 27, 2009 G.M. to Maintain Legal Liability for Claims

QUOTE: Courts typically allow companies under bankruptcy protection to leave claims behind in bankruptcy and emerge with a clean slate, a precedent G.M. and the government are relying upon.

 New York Times
Jun 10, 2009 Supreme Court Clears the Way for Chrysler Sale

QUOTE: The U.S. Supreme Court last night declined to hear an appeal from opponents of the sale of Chrysler's assets to Italian automaker Fiat, clearing the way for the government-backed transaction to take place immediately....A group of Indiana pension and construction funds had opposed that transaction, arguing that the Chrysler sale favored lenders much more junior to them. They were joined by consumer groups who complained that the sale would exempt the new Chrysler from past product liability claims.

 Washington Post
Jun 04, 2009 Indiana Teachers and Cops vs. Chrysler

QUOTE: investment managers for some 100,000 Indiana teachers, police officers, and other civil servants poured millions of pension dollars into what the funds considered a safe investment: secured debt in Chrysler....The Indiana State Teachers Retirement Fund, the Indiana State Police Pension Trust, and the Indiana Major Moves Construction Fund argue that the federal government's intervention in the bankruptcy is unconstitutional, since the proposed plan will pay back unsecured lenders before those that were secured.

 BusinessWeek
Jun 03, 2009 G.M. and Chrysler Defend Dealer Closings to Senate Panel

QUOTE: Under sharp questioning from a Senate panel, executives from General Motors and Chrysler defended their plans to whittle down the number of dealerships on Wednesday, calling it a painful but necessary part of creating leaner, more competitive companies....dealerships that sold a smaller number of vehicles weighed down their companies. A more streamlined corps of dealers was vital for survival.

 New York Times
Jun 03, 2009 Chrysler Sale to Fiat Moves to a Higher Court

QUOTE: the appeals court delayed the closing of the sale, meant to transfer most of Chrysler’s assets into a newer, healthier company. The appeal was filed by lawyers for a group of Indiana pension funds, which objected to the sale because they were seeking more compensation for the Chrysler secured debt they hold.

 New York Times
Jun 01, 2009 Judge Clears Way for Sale of Chrysler to Fiat

QUOTE: A federal judge on Sunday night cleared a path for Chrysler to exit bankruptcy by approving a sale of most of the carmaker’s assets to a new entity to be run by Fiat of Italy....three [Indiana pension funds] have objected to the sale, arguing that they deserve more than the 29 cents on the dollar that they and other secured lenders will receive as repayment.

 New York Times
May 22, 2009 Chrysler Dealers Make Case Against Closings

QUOTE: The calls from Chrysler officials were coming nearly every day...And the message was simple: Take more cars. Many of those fighting the hardest are dealers who recently spent huge amounts of money to stay in the company’s good graces, who sacrificed their own profits to help keep the company intact...only to learn that they were the ones who would not.

 New York Times
Dec 20, 2008 Some Say UAW's Sacrifices Look More Like Surrender

QUOTE: But with the announcement of the federal loan deal yesterday, the union found itself being forced into concessions that some described as tantamount to surrender....But with the announcement of the federal loan deal yesterday, the union found itself being forced into concessions that some described as tantamount to surrender....

 Washington Post
Dec 12, 2008 Auto Bailout Talks Collapse as Senate Deadlocks Over Wages: Without a Deal, Carmakers Face Bankruptcy Threat

QUOTE: The legislation would have provided emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler, which have said they face imminent collapse without federal help. The high-stakes talks broke down over when the wages of union workers would be slashed to the same level as those paid to nonunion workers at U.S. plants of foreign automakers...

 Washington Post
Nov 26, 2008 Dumb And Dumber--And Dumbest

QUOTE: the inexplicably callous, clueless and trust-destructing behavior we have recently seen from so many big businesses that have been central players in this unprecedented economic meltdown.

 Forbes
Nov 20, 2008 Hurt by Losses, Pension Funds Criticize Rules

QUOTE: Stung by outsize investment losses, some of the nation’s biggest companies are pushing Congress to roll back rules requiring them to put more money into their pension funds, just two years after President Bush signed a law meant to strengthen the pension system....With cash now in short supply for companies, they are asking Congress to excuse them from having to replenish the required amounts.

 New York Times
Jul 03, 2008 The Struggles of Detroit Ensnare Its Workers

QUOTE: Their pickups and sport utility vehicles are not selling, and now General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler have to pay thousands of auto workers not to make them. With more than 15 of their assembly plants across the country set to be idled or slowed because of shift cutbacks, the Detroit automakers will temporarily lay off upward of 25,000 auto workers this summer and fall. Because of their union contracts, G.M., Ford and Chrysler are obligated to pay workers more than half of their regular take-home wages, plus health benefits, with state unemployment benefits picking up a portion of the rest.

 New York Times