The Man Who Wanted To Buy Opel Now Wants To Rule Austria
For months, Frank Stronach’s Magna was about to take over GM’s Opel, until GM suddenly canceled the deal, a decision GM probably regrets several times a day. Used to reach for the stars, Frank Stronach reaches higher. Instead of ruling Opel, he now wants to rule a country.
Frank Stronach, billionaire owner of Magna, is running for chancellor of Austria. Not a big country, but it’s a start. His party is so new that it does not have a name yet, but he thinks that the party could get between 20 and 30 percent of the vote. Opinion polls show him close to 10 percent, says Reuters.
Stronach is trying to exploit growing bailout fatigue and could turn the election into a de facto vote on Austria’s future in Europe. He basically wants Austria go back to its old currency, the schilling.
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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Austria could prove a better investment than Opel.
I'll call this one a 'reverse Hitler'....
He's getting up there in years. He won't hold it for long. I wonder what his angle is? Does he think that keeping the Euro will hurt auto manufacturing in Europe? The PIIGS will truly drag the whole edifice down and he needs to get in there and salvage what he can before it all goes away? I don't know how much exposure he has in Europe but it is substantial. He assembles whole vehicles for MB and I think Porsche. Adding up all of his activities he might be a bigger manufacturer than PSA.
Frank has a history and doing what is primarily good for frank. Anybody whos been around the industry long enough will remember much of the interesting history following frank, belinda and don as well as the rags to riches to rags to riches history of magna.