89-Year-Old Kerkorian Turns Up the Heat on GM

Kirk Wants Troubled Automaker to “Fully Explore” Joining Renault – Nissan Alliance

WSJ Online is on the ball with a short rehash of Tracinda’s letter to GM’s Richard Wagoner, saying that Renault and Nissan are receptive to the idea of GM joining their partnership-alliance and buying from GM a significant minority interest. Shares of GM shot up about 12% in pre-market trading. Helpfully, WSJ has a link to the letter in a GM filing with the SEC today. NYTimes takes the easy route and uses Reuters for this story. Both neglect to mention that Kerkorian’s private investment corp, Tracinda (named for his daughters, Tracy & Linda), owns approximately 10% of GM’s shares.

WSJ adds a modicum of analysis—to be fair, this is a breaking story—and says that GM’s forecast highlighted the long road ahead for the company, given its Sisyphus-like task of wooing customers for its giant SUVs and pickup trucks when petrol is over $3/gal. As WSJ points out, while the buyouts and early retirements of 35,000 workers should help the company cut costs, demand has fallen for its larger models, which is precisely where GM earns its dough.

See:

WSJ, posted 9:38am

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115167274274595315.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

NYTimes, accessed 9:38am

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/business/30wire-kerkorian.html