Goodbye Chrysler
Today was Chrysler’s deadline and unfortunately they had to file for bankruptcy, along with an alliance with Italian carmaker, Fiat, as commanded by the Obama Administration. So now what happens next? Well, a new Chrysler will form, which will buy all the assets of the old Chrysler out of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. United Auto Workers (UAW) union has also made attempts to save jobs and make Chrysler more competitive, forming concessions on wages, benefits, and retiree health care. Will General Motors (GM) follow in their path on June 1st, their deadline? 1 down, 2 Detriots left. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens…

Goodbye Lewis
Mr. Kenneth Lewis, who helped build Bank of America into the nation’s largest bank just a couple years ago now seems to be the center where criticisms are fired at. Shareholders have swiped his chairman position, though the vote was very close – 50.34% that had opted to remove Lewis as chairman. Investors attended the annual shareholders meeting, some even wearing shirts that expressed their feelings, with comments like “FIRE!!! KENNETH LEWIS.” In fact, 1/3 voted to remove him from the board altogether. However he remains chief executive, as its board of directors had unanimous support for him.

Why so angry? Angry investors held Mr. Lewis accountable for what was perceived as inept actions that he took, which had potentially forced the bank to accept two government bailouts. It wasn’t too long ago that Mr. Lewis was praised by many, even for his takeover of Merrill Lynch. Now, critics say that Mr. Lewis not only overpaid Merrill, but it seems like the takeover has done such detriments to the ex-largest bank. Merrill’s losses have prompted Bank of America to seek their second rescue from the government and this is where the criticisms start to roll in. Walter E. Massey, president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, will replace Lewis as chairman.

Tags: bailout funds, bank of america, bankruptcy, chapter 11 bankruptcy, Chrysler, detriot, fiat, general motors, GM, kenneth lewis, merrill lynch, uaw, united automobile workers

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 8:30 am and is filed under News Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.