Who The Hell Suggested A GM-Ford Merger?
Yes folks, it's Ford-GM merger rumor time again! This time, Business Week reports that GM execs recently mused aloud about the prospects of a merger with FoMoCo. According to "sources briefed on one of the meetings," the idea never made it past the "banter" stage. Dismissing mental images of executives "bantering" while their company burns, it's obvious that this idea is as wrong as you can possibly be without being eveN slightly right. Sure, Ford and GM's cratering market share means they'd have no problem dealing with antitrust regulators. Sure a Ford-GM Axis of Angst might prompt some generous federal handouts. But they'll get those anyway. And these two companies' combined debt is larger than Mexico's national debt. Literally. So, this bone-headed idea isn't going to go any farther than it did back in 2006 , when GM's Fritz Henderson met with Ford's Don LeClair to discuss a possible merger. So… will the GM executive/board member who suggested this idea please stand up? We have an award for which you will be nominated.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Nice job marc. I got very close to a spit take reading your comment. I'm with lth. Although I like to think of myself as a rich old man in power, like most of us my financials are not quite up to the Kirkster's level. I do have $28.36 that I was going to flush down a toilet to put towards the BFF (Buy Ford Fund).
I can imagine Ford cherry picking a few GM assets at the courthouse steps auction, but other than that ... not going to happen. Tick tock.
This type of thing happened once before back in 1968. It was the merger of the "sick" Pennsylvania Railroad with the "sicker" New York Central Railroad, fierce competitors of each other. Their merged company was called Penn Central Transportation Company and within two and a half years, by June 1970, they were bankrupt and by 1976 were gone completely from the transportation landscape. At the time in 1970, their Chapter 11 bankruptcy was the largest in American business history. I imagine a GM-Ford hook-up, if it ever came to that which is doubtful, would eventually dwarf the Penn Central disaster.