Quote Of The Day: Chrysler Could Be Rich If There Wouldn't Be That Nasty Mortgage

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

“The only reason we are not making money on the net is that I pay interest on the borrowings I took from the government and I have money in the bank to cover that debt. Actually, against the Treasury we owe them nothing. We have enough cash to pay it all off. But you can’t run a business without cash, so it’s just a function of our capital structure. If we had taken those funds as equity as GM did, we would have been making money, net, right now.”

Sergio Marchionne, explaining the financial situation of Chrysler, according to Reuters. Come on, Sergio, you need to take your GAAP course. In America, we call this EBITA and throw a big party. Chrysler is set to report second-quarter results on August 9.

Bonus quote: As far as a Chrysler IPO goes, no hurry for Sergio.

“I am waiting for GM to go first — they are bigger.”

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • MikeInCanada MikeInCanada on Jul 31, 2010

    Sergio's an accountant by profession. Kind of an embarrassing statement for the bean counters in general.....

  • ZekeToronto ZekeToronto on Aug 01, 2010

    Marchionne is a product of Canadian public schools (from age 13 on) and universities (U of Windsor and York U). And although he is a CGA, he's also a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School (at York). I'm guessing he had his lawyer hat on when he made the above remarks :-)

  • MikeInCanada MikeInCanada on Aug 01, 2010

    Marchionne went to York U!? I thought that it was him I saw on TV down at the G20 protests with the rest of the Liberal Arts department.

  • ZekeToronto ZekeToronto on Aug 01, 2010

    Hah! We'll check the next batch of security photos that get released!

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