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Chrysler Goes to the Americans
May 14, 2007







The USA Today is running an article entitled, "Sale: Chrysler Goes to
Cerberus."

The article states, "At a news conference after the deal was announced,
Cerberus Chairman John Snow said Chrysler would benefit from
dropping out of the public spotlight for a time. 'Our approach is
fundamentally long term. We don't think about the next quarter. We don't
think about what analysts have to say about us,' he told the news
conference in Stuttgart, where DaimlerChrysler is headquartered."

While UAW President Ron Gettelfinger praised the transaction, the
president of Canada's auto workers' union (CAW TCA), Buzz Hargrove
expressed concern that a private equity firm would lay off more
employees.

Read a Related Article!!



Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students what it means to own something. Can your
    students think of anything that they own? Can they think of
    anything that is owned by more than one person? What?
  • Students could make lists of everything that they own.

  • Do your students think that bosses should care if people who
    work for them are sick or healthy? Why/why not?
  • The class could collaboratively develop a set of hopes that
    bosses have for their workers.

  • Ask your students how they think that cars will be different in
    another 100 years.
  • Students could draw pictures of their imagined cars.

  • If two companies sell the same number of cars at the same price
    but one company has 100 more workers than another company,
    the owners of which company will make more profit? Why?
  • Students could develop their own simple story problems
    related to cars.


Discussion-Starters for Older Students

  • Vocabulary terms to discuss: "Private Equity Firm"; "Equity Base";
    Liabilities; and, Synergies.

  • Ask your students what they think it means for a company to
    have value. What determines a company's value?
  • In groups of two or three ask students to develop a
    graphic organizer indicating how to measure a company's
    value.

  • Ask your students to imagine that they worked at Cerberus, the
    private company that purchased Chrysler. What would they do in
    an effort to increase the company's value? Why?
  • Students could develop business plans.

  • In what ways might a company benefit from being owned by a
    private firm? In what ways might a company be disadvantaged?
  • These questions might prompt an interesting class
    discussion.
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(C) 2007, Andrew Pass Educational Services, LLC.
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