| (AFX UK Focus) 2007-08-08 04:47 GMT: Ex-Home Depot boss to lead new Chrysler
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) - 0807b--Chrysler--Nardelli
Chrysler got a taste of its new owner's swift and decisive style Monday as its chief executive was demoted and the former head of Home Depot was tapped to lead the automaker through a major restructuring. Bob Nardelli, who left The Home Depot Inc. in January after a shareholder rebellion over his outsized pay, was named chairman and chief executive of Chrysler LLC, replacing Tom LaSorda, who is taking the No. 2 slot. The changes came just three days after the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP acquired a majority stake in Chrysler. "The new Chrysler has the opportunity to prove that the private business model can thrive in this industry," Nardelli said. "We have an opportunity to really make a significant change in the auto industry." LaSorda said Nardelli is a strong manager who has helped companies grow and he is happy to be working with him.
Chrysler chief's reputation still in rags
NEW YORK–Opportunity knocked, and Robert Nardelli missed it. If he had really wanted to begin rehabilitating his tarnished reputation, he could have started his CEO job at Chrysler by publicly promising he wouldn't accept a penny in pay. Instead, the former Home Depot chief executive officer, who left the home-improvement retail chain in January with a controversial $210 million (U.S.) severance package, stayed mum on what he would be making while he tries to lead struggling Chrysler out of its funk. Chrysler officials fed the media tidbits about his $1 a year salary. But none would provide details about any performance-based bonus Nardelli could collect if he managed to help reverse the automaker's slide. Technically, Chrysler and Nardelli had no obligation to talk about his pay at all.
Asia has nothing to fear except monsters
SYDNEY - Asia has limited exposure to the US subprime loans fallout, so we can all take a ringside seat while Europe and North America sort through the debris. Right? Wrong.
It's true that the tsunami rippling through the lowest and riskiest level of US mortgage lending has no direct bearing on this region. Asian stocks have been oversold in the equities fallout and logically their markets should by now have become safe havens for nervous investors.
But crises have a way of breeding paranoia and sapping consumer confidence long after the initial bruising has subsided,
even when most stockholders are mere spectators in a drama being played out on distant shores.
Asian banks are more equipped than most to handle credit strains, having spent heavily on improved risk-management and regulatory systems after the 1997-98 East Asian economic meltdown.
Chrysler gets a new driver
Chrysler got a taste of its new owner's swift and decisive style Monday as its chief executive was demoted and the former head of Home Depot was tapped to lead the automaker through a major restructuring. Bob Nardelli, who left The Home Depot Inc. in January after a shareholder rebellion over his outsized pay, was named chairman and CEO of Chrysler LLC, replacing Tom LaSorda, who is taking the No. 2 slot. The changes came three days after private-equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP acquired a majority stake in Chrysler. "The new Chrysler has the opportunity to prove that the private business model can thrive in this industry," Nardelli said. "We have an opportunity to ... make a significant change in the auto industry." LaSorda said Nardelli is a strong manager who has helped companies grow and he is happy to be working with him.
Market insight: Central banks share blame for credit bubble
The global credit bubble is bursting. This bubble is primarily leverage financing for owning risky assets. The people who were responsible for what happened played with other people's money, marketed arcane financial products with false promises of fat profits, but stuffed their own pockets with big bonuses. Neither these masters of the universe nor their greedy but naïve investors deserve to be bailed out. They deserve what is coming to them. The central banks bear equal responsibility in the current debacle. After 9/11, central banks cut interest rates dramatically and provided the cheap money for this leverage bubble. They must not flood the world with liquidity again to sustain this bubble or create another. The central banks should focus on price stability, not financial market stability, and should provide liquidity only to contain the multiplier effect of the bubble bursting on the economy.
Microsoft Completes aQuantive Buy
NEW YORK Microsoft said it has completed its $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive and immediately created a new division to house its digital advertising assets. Under the new structure, Microsoft has created an advertiser and publisher solutions unit, which will contain aQuantive's Atlas ad server, DrivePM ad network and digital agency Avenue A/Razorfish. The group will also house Microsoft's adCenter platform, MSNDR direct-response offering and an emerging media group with video game network Massive, mobile network Screen Tonic. .
Hispanics taking population lead
Hispanics for the first time outnumber non-Hispanic whites in Dallas County by a slim margin, U.S. Census Bureau numbers scheduled for release today show, as the rest of the state and the nation continue one of the biggest demographic shifts in the nation's history. Texas was officially deemed a majority-minority state two years ago. But county by county, the state is becoming increasingly Hispanic, the Census Bureau reported in its 2006 update. Nationwide, nearly one in 10 counties is now more than 50 percent minority. In Dallas County, minorities made up nearly 64 percent of residents in 2006, with Hispanics making up 37.7 percent of the population, compared with 36.1 for non-Hispanic whites. .
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