Chrysler Considers Slashing

Chrysler LLC, looking to return to profitability by 2009, is considering branding changes that would further simplify its product portfolio while helping to cut as many as 1,000 dealers.
MORE ON CHRYSLER

• Chrysler Will Dump Some Models, Dealers10/18/07
• Big Three's Other Woe: Too Many Dealers06/18/07
A plan now being discussed calls for Chrysler dealers to sell all of the auto maker's passenger cars under the Chrysler name. Dodge dealers would exclusively offer pickup and commercial trucks, while Jeep dealers would sell Jeep and sport-utility vehicles, according to three dealers familiar with the discussions.
Such a scenario would allow Chrysler to drop some of its overlapping products that essentially compete with one another, such as the Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring, which are both midsize sedans but marketed under different names. Fewer products could also mean a reduction in dealers, which would weed out poor-performing dealerships that have excess inventory and resort to incentives that hurt profitability.
"This is just one of the plans they are studying," said a dealer who was informed of the idea. "At the end of this year, they expect to have a plan for the future."
Chrysler co-President Jim Press, speaking at a media briefing last month, suggested that the auto maker simplify its product lineup. Mr. Press, who until September was president of Toyota Motor Co.'s North American operations, questioned the need to divide Chrysler's resources to market both a Chrysler Town & Country minivan and a Dodge Caravan. Mr. Press spent 37 years with Toyota, which in comparison has fewer and more profitable dealerships in the U.S.
Chrysler spokesman Rick Deneau said, "I would not interpret Jim Press's comments about product overlap as an indication we will segregate vehicle types by brand."
The broad scope of the plan further underscores how fast and deep Cerberus Capital Management LP is willing to go to turn around Chrysler after buying an 80.1% stake in the company in August.
Chrysler, which is facing sluggish U.S. sales because of housing-market weakness and high fuel prices, this month announced an expansion of a restructuring plan unveiled in February, saying it would cut its North American hourly work force almost in half by 2010. The company has also made several high-profile executive appointments since Cerberus took over.
Meantime, Chrysler executives have also now decided to kill the entire PT Cruiser line after the 2009 model year, according to a dealer who was told of the decision this past week. The move further expands the auto maker's push to eliminate slower-selling models. Chrysler, in announcing the expanded restructuring this month, said that it was dropping the PT Cruiser convertible, Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Crossfire and Dodge Magnum.

From WSJ On-Line ...read more...

i like to recommend a good website.
it's focus on technical analysis....
u can chose stocks based on the source u like
hope u guys like it!!

www.tradetrek.com ...read more...

Citi's Fat Cats Take a Drubbing in DeclineFriday

BOSTON -- Wall Street firms encourage the top brass to own equity in order to align their interests with those of ordinary stockholders. It's good to know the system works -- even if, so far, the main result is the satisfaction of knowing that the big shots are feeling your pain.

Take Citigroup, where board members and senior management are losing big money as the bank's deepening crisis sends its shares into freefall.
Their total losses on stock and options this year? Nearly half a billion dollars.
That's right. Thirty board members and top executives have seen nearly $500 million wiped off the value of their shares and options.
Even for Citigroup's well-heeled head honchos, this is a lot of dough. And it shows that anyone who believes the wealthy can be wholly insulated from the knock-on effects of the subprime meltdown is dreaming. The news comes at fears of writedowns and mounting losses sent the stock plummeting to a fresh four-year low.
The figures on personal losses at the top of the bank come from an analysis of Citigroup's public filings.
They include a $52 million loss suffered just by Mr. Establishment himself -- executive committee chairman Bob Rubin, Bill Clinton's former Treasury Secretary and a leading figure in the Democratic Party.
Rubin holds 345,000 shares along with 4.6 million share options at exercise prices ranging from $33.44 to nearly $50. In January his holdings were valued at $75 million.
Today: Just $23 million.
Mexican banker Roberto Hernandez has seen his fortune reduced by about $220 million. Hernandez joined the board after selling Citigroup his bank, Banamex, six years ago. That deal has left him with 14.56 million Citigroup shares.
Most of the other losses have been borne by company executives. But the powerful and connected outside directors haven't been spared completely. Movers and shakers like former CIA head John Deutsch and Johns Hopkins chairman Michael Armstrong are out a million bucks or two.
The figures provide an indication of the pressure on chief executive Chuck Prince to turn the ship around quickly or walk the plank. Speculation about Prince's fate is growing following the dramatic ousting of Stan O'Neal, his counterpart at Merrill Lynch .
Citigroup stock, which began the year at $53.88, fell below $39 yesterday amid growing fears of write-downs and capital needs. One Wall Street analyst even questioned whether the dividend was safe. The last time the shares were this low was in October 2003.
According to the most recent company filings, directors and senior management owned 25.3 million shares. The value of those shares has plunged by $404 million this year to $956 million.
Top figures also held 10.7 million stock options. Most, or 7.7 million, were held by five senior executives -- Prince, Rubin, wealth management boss Sallie Krawcheck, Chief Operating Officer Bob Druskin, and Vice Chairman Stephen Volk. Based on exercise prices ranging from $32.05 up to $55.88, those options have lost another $72 million in value.
That brings the total to $476 million.
One caveat: It's an estimate. And it is not complete. The figure, for example, does not include losses on another 3 million stock options held by other senior figures, where the exercise prices are unknown. Nor the effect on any stock granted since the last proxy statement.
Citigroup's top brass are standing by Prince for now, but of course fine words butter no parsnips -- and float no yachts.
As O'Neal just learned, the end comes quickly when it comes.

From Yahoo Finance
...read more...