Ford on the brink of bankruptcy?

CShine · 03-10-2003, 09:09 PM

http://www.autonews.com/news.cms?new...ms?newsId=4767

Quote:

Ford's $161 billion of debt is more than 10 times its market capitalization of about $14 billion.

"There's a lot of concern that Ford has a great deal of debt on its balance sheet," she added. "GM is in a better position than Ford in the short-run because they have a lower variable cost structure and very good management."

Still, GM said on Wednesday it was considering the sale of most or all of its commercial mortgage business because it has been difficult to raise capital through some debt markets following a rating downgrade last October.

For that reason and others, independent ratings agency Egan-Jones Ratings Co. is far more bearish than its rivals on the sector, with Ford already at junk status.

"If its name were not Ford they'd probably be in bankruptcy now," founder and managing director Sean Egan said. "They continue to have access to the market because of the good brand name they've built up over the past 100 years, and if it weren't for that brand name Ford would have an increasingly difficult time rolling over its liabilities."

Arthur Digby Sellers · 03-10-2003, 09:23 PM

Ford will be alright, they'll spin off a few divisions (i.e., stamping and transmission) and move on. It was worse in the '80s and they're still standing, I'm not worried.

ChicagoMark · 03-11-2003, 12:47 AM

Wrong!!

Ford is in serious financial trouble and it is getting worse. I fully expect Ford and GM to file for bankruptcy by the end of 2004. Their liabilities are to huge in the face of a serious economic downturn. Can you say depression?

WixomSpartan · 03-11-2003, 06:31 AM

ChicagoMark...do you by chance make a living selling stocks short?

sloth · 03-11-2003, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoMark
Wrong!!

Ford is in serious financial trouble and it is getting worse. I fully expect Ford and GM to file for bankruptcy by the end of 2004. Their liabilities are to huge in the face of a serious economic downturn. Can you say depression?

SLOTH(tm) will certainly eat crow if this turns out to be true, but SLOTH(tm) respectfully suggests that this prognostication is way off base. in other words, neither Ford nor GM will be filing for bankruptcy any time soon.

Hibernia · 03-11-2003, 02:13 PM

No. It is just those crazy Brit journalists getting their facts wrong. Check it out: The Ford Kids are Alright

GreenYWhite · 03-12-2003, 12:22 AM

Indeed, bankruptcy for GM and Ford is not in the cards. They'll move all of their operations to China and default on pension plans forcing the government to pick up the bill before that happens! Well, probably not. The government pension insurance program is already in the red. So don't count on your pensions at all, and forget about social security and don't think you'll have a job. Not necessarily in that order, of course.

http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/866541.asp

So don't worry, GM and Ford will be around for a long time. Your pension and your job however may be somewhere else. So hold on to those auto stocks!

ChicagoMark · 03-12-2003, 12:40 AM

A rather timely article considering the debate.

Ford Hits 11 YR Low

I don't make predictions like the one above lightly. I am extremely bearish on the automotive business and Ford in particular. I should clarify that Ford will file for bankrutcy in a couple years unless they get government help.

ChicagoMark · 03-18-2003, 10:37 AM

Another rather important article

Bye-Bye Ford

Hibernia · 03-18-2003, 12:04 PM

This is so overplayed and untruthful. These rumors were started by the London financial tabloids, notorious for making up rumors and stories of corporate shenanigans.
Ford, while not doing well, is not going anywhere. They will not become bankrupt, and they will continue to sell cars and trucks for many years to come.

GreenYWhite · 03-18-2003, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by *********
Yep. OF course, CM would agree with audi if a Democrat were in office.

Any company that hires ****** *** has no credibility with me. They are going down, down, down.

Ted Engel · 12-23-2004, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChicagoMark

Wrong!!

Ford is in serious financial trouble and it is getting worse. I fully expect Ford and GM to file for bankruptcy by the end of 2004. Their liabilities are to huge in the face of a serious economic downturn. Can you say depression?

There are now less than 10 days left in 2004.

When might General Motors and Ford be holding press conferences to announce their respective bankruptcies?

negreen · 12-23-2004, 01:02 PM

Let Ford go, it is the symbol of the old economy. Now we have
new economy companies like ebay, google, which employ very
few number of people, and pay them with stock options.

Green Cheesiest™ · 12-23-2004, 01:07 PM

Ford and GM's financial service section does better than the cars!

Tim*Mello · 12-23-2004, 03:00 PM

There's a great series in the Freep about GMs strategy and the future of the auto industry. GM is betting big on CHina.

"Businessman's dilemma: Can his firm afford to stay out of China?
The pressure is mounting. Robert Peuterbaugh is being pushed by customers in subtle and not-so-subtle ways to start doing business overseas, whether it's in Brazil, China or somewhere else. So far, the 48-year-old Macomb Township businessman has refused and walked away from decades-long customers

CHINA CONSULTANT: Expansion advice has emotional price for relocation trainer
HARD LESSON: Full disclosure gives job-hunter an empty feeling
WHAT DO YOU THINK?: If you ran an auto supplier, would you send American jobs to another country? Read what other Free Press readers have to say, and add your comments. "

http://www.freep.com/index.htm

At some point it won't even matter if GM or Ford are incorporated in the US. Americans and the American economy is quickly becoming 2nd rate.

All the engineering and manufacturing will be done ELSEWHERE.

Ford and GM will survive....but will Americans?

Beaumont81 · 12-23-2004, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim*Mello

Ford and GM will survive....but will Americans?

Tim, you're getting pretty philosophic about this.

That is kind of scary.

I think I liked you better when you were the traditional whiney Dem. At least that was predictable and pretty petty stuff. Asking if Americans will survive? That's pretty deep.

Tim*Mello · 12-23-2004, 03:09 PM

TOUGH CALLS AT HOME: Full disclosure gives man empty feeling
December 23, 2004

BY JEFFREY McCRACKEN
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Since losing his job as a technical illustrator for General Motors Corp. in January, Glenn Evans has learned a valuable lesson about job hunting: Never tell prospective employers he used to make $20 an hour.

"I applied for a store-clerk job at Murray's, and it turned out I made more than the store manager. I looked into an oil-change job for a dealership, and they said, 'You made too much, you won't stay here.' They don't want to be bothered with me," said Evans, who spent 12 years as a contractor assigned to the GM Tech Center in Warren -- before his job was off-shored to a GM engineering center in India. Evans, 42, was part of a team of illustrators who designed vehicle-assembly manuals online. His job, in essence, was to take the design plans and create a manual that showed GM plant workers what nut, bolt or wire went where. Like a lot of people he worked with, Evans has a high-school diploma and took some classes in drafting, but has no college degree.

In late 2003, Evans and his coworkers in the product-assembly document group were told some of their work was going over to India, but that only old programs would go overseas. A few months later, new-product work also went.

"I was always kind of suspicious this would happen. They were paying them one-tenth of my salary, so why would you keep it here? Besides, that's how GM works. They do whatever to save money," said Evans, an Army veteran of the early 1980s who grew up in Center Line and lives in a 600-square-foot house in Rochester Hills.

For the last 10 months, Evans has been getting by on $724 in unemployment every two weeks and doing odd jobs for neighbors and relatives, painting their houses, washing windows or fixing cars.

He makes enough to buy DVDs from the discount bin at Wal-Mart and snacks for his three dogs.

The dogs -- Taz, Suzie and Sky -- are important to Evans, who is single. The sign outside his screen door reads: "If there is a fire, get my 3 dogs."

Evans' unemployment compensation will cease at year's end, so his goal now is to become a certified auto mechanic -- preferably for a foreign automaker. Evans drives a 1995 Chevy full-size pickup and 1990 Lumina. He also has two "beaters" on his lawn that he uses for parts on his other two.

"I can see why GM did what they did, but I'll buy an import next time," said Evans. "Let the guy in India who took my job buy their cars from now on."

Tim*Mello · 12-23-2004, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beaumont81

Tim, you're getting pretty philosophic about this.

That is kind of scary.

I think I liked you better when you were the traditional whiney Dem. At least that was predictable and pretty petty stuff. Asking if Americans will survive? That's pretty deep.

Funny, I don't like you EVER.

Nitrogen · 12-23-2004, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim*Mello

TOUGH CALLS AT HOME: Full disclosure gives man empty feeling
December 23, 2004

BY JEFFREY McCRACKEN
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Since losing his job as a technical illustrator for General Motors Corp. in January, Glenn Evans has learned a valuable lesson about job hunting: Never tell prospective employers he used to make $20 an hour.

"I applied for a store-clerk job at Murray's, and it turned out I made more than the store manager. I looked into an oil-change job for a dealership, and they said, 'You made too much, you won't stay here.' They don't want to be bothered with me," said Evans, who spent 12 years as a contractor assigned to the GM Tech Center in Warren -- before his job was off-shored to a GM engineering center in India. Evans, 42, was part of a team of illustrators who designed vehicle-assembly manuals online. His job, in essence, was to take the design plans and create a manual that showed GM plant workers what nut, bolt or wire went where. Like a lot of people he worked with, Evans has a high-school diploma and took some classes in drafting, but has no college degree.

In late 2003, Evans and his coworkers in the product-assembly document group were told some of their work was going over to India, but that only old programs would go overseas. A few months later, new-product work also went.

"I was always kind of suspicious this would happen. They were paying them one-tenth of my salary, so why would you keep it here? Besides, that's how GM works. They do whatever to save money," said Evans, an Army veteran of the early 1980s who grew up in Center Line and lives in a 600-square-foot house in Rochester Hills.

For the last 10 months, Evans has been getting by on $724 in unemployment every two weeks and doing odd jobs for neighbors and relatives, painting their houses, washing windows or fixing cars.

He makes enough to buy DVDs from the discount bin at Wal-Mart and snacks for his three dogs.

The dogs -- Taz, Suzie and Sky -- are important to Evans, who is single. The sign outside his screen door reads: "If there is a fire, get my 3 dogs."

Evans' unemployment compensation will cease at year's end, so his goal now is to become a certified auto mechanic -- preferably for a foreign automaker. Evans drives a 1995 Chevy full-size pickup and 1990 Lumina. He also has two "beaters" on his lawn that he uses for parts on his other two.

"I can see why GM did what they did, but I'll buy an import next time," said Evans. "Let the guy in India who took my job buy their cars from now on."

Blame unions. We don't need them anymore. Cost of manufacturing is way too high anywhere unions are used. If working conditions are usafe or if corporations mistreat their employees, lawsuits will be filed.

Green Cheesiest™ · 12-23-2004, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nitrogen

Blame unions. We don't need them anymore. Cost of manufacturing is way too high anywhere unions are used. If working conditions are usafe or if corporations mistreat their employees, lawsuits will be filed.

He's not in a union, he is a contract employee which is even worse. They work salary positions for low pay and getting treated like ****.