TriMet #Agenda2030 -episode 9
17 hours ago
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
DO YOU THINK THE POOR GUY WILL GET ALONG OKAY?
x-GM boss Wagoner gets $10M in retirement
Automaker, fresh out of bankruptcy, took $50 billion in government aid
Interactive |
 |  Most reliable carsJ.D. Power’s 2009 Initial Quality Study shows the quality of vehicles built for American consumers has improved this year, but imported brands are still top of the list. |
updated 5:13 p.m. PT, Tues., July 14, 2009
DETROIT - Former General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will retire Aug. 1 with a pension and benefit package the automaker valued at more than $10 million.
Wagoner, 56, who was ousted by the Obama administration on March 30, will get $1.64 million in benefits annually for each of the next five years, plus an annual pension of $74,030 for the rest of his life, according to company documents filed Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Wagoner, who spent 32 years with the company, can also choose to cash out his company-provided life insurance policy at $2.6 million, according to the filing.
The benefits are worth about half the $22.1 million value that the company placed on Wagoner’s retirement package at the end of 2008.
The package is far smaller than those afforded to many other retiring large-company CEOs.
Stan O’Neal, ousted from Merrill Lynch in 2007 after the investment bank reported a huge quarterly loss, walked away with $161.5 million in stock, options and retirement benefits. Walt Disney Co. directors awarded a $140 million severance package to Michael Ovitz at the end of his brief stint as president of the entertainment company. And Hewlett-Packard Co. granted more than $42 million in cash, stock and other benefits to Carleton “Carly” Fiorina after she was ousted as CEO in 2005.
Wagoner has remained on the GM payroll since his ouster, but he had been working for $1 per year. Company spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem said GM disclosed last year that it had annual pensions for top executives by two-thirds.
GM has received $50 billion in U.S. government loans. On Friday, GM emerged from a 40-day stay in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with its best assets moving to a new company called General Motors Co. The U.S. government owns more than 60 percent of the new company, with hopes of selling stock to get some of its investment back, perhaps as soon as next year.
Wagoner’s ouster came at the hands of former Obama administration autos task force leader Steven Rattner, as the administration rejected a GM restructuring plan and ordered deeper cuts.
Wagoner earned $14.9 million last year at GM, although $11.9 million of that was in the form of stock and options which are now worthless.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
DEATH OF A SALESMAN....BILLY MAYS
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Saturday, June 13, 2009
REMEMBER THIS CAR? 1971 SAAB SONNET
1971 Saab Sonnet, V-4, green, good cond, 4-speed needs trans work. $2995. 503-642-1849 westberg4342@verizon.net
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
THE GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION ADVERTISING
I actually remember these extra verses back when the show aired in prime time.
The truck they pass is from Railway Express Agency, shut down years ago.
A CHINESE HUMMER? WHAT WOULD ARNOLD THINK OF THAT
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Bankrupt automaker General Motors said Tuesday it reached a tentative deal to sell Hummer, its military-styled vehicle, reportedly to a machine maker based in western China.
The company said the deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter, but declined to say who the buyer was or how much they would pay for the brand.
The New York Times, citing an anonymous source familiar with the Chinese government approval process, said the buyer was Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. Ltd., a privately-held company in Chengdu.
In a release, GM (GMGMQ 0.55, -0.20, -26.45%) said the pending deal would secure more than 3,000 manufacturing, engineering and dealership jobs in the U.S. Hummer will also continue to contract vehicle services from GM during a defined transitional time period.
The deal also includes plans by the investor to aggressively fund future Hummer product programs, the automaker said.
GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young, speaking on a conference call with industry analysts earlier Tuesday, said the company had agreed not to say who planned to buy Hummer until the deal had been clinched. At this point, it's still a memorandum of understanding.
"I'm confident that Hummer will thrive globally under its new ownership," said Tony Clark, president of GM North America. "And for GM, this sale continues to accelerate the reinvention of GM into a leaner, more focused, and more cost-competitive automaker."
Detroit-based GM filed for bankruptcy early Monday and has been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. It was also replaced on the Dow Jones Industrial Average(INDU 8,764, +42.91, +0.49%) by Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO 19.57, +0.07, +0.36%)
GM plans to reorganize itself as a leaner, more competitive automaker and emerge from bankruptcy within 90 days. As part of the plan, the company said it would shed its non-core brands Hummer, Saab, Saturn, and Pontiac.
Hummer sales have fallen sharply from their peak a few years ago, hurt by high fuel prices, a severe recession, and waning popularity for oversized sport utility vehicles.
During a press briefing, Chief Executive Fredrick Henderson said Swedish-built Saab already had three bidders, but declined to reveal their names.
Including its core brands Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC, the company said it has just over $82 billion in assets, but owes more than $172 billion to its creditors. See full story.
Christopher Hinton is a reporter for MarketWatch based in New York.
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