It will be interesting to see if this is a one time cashing-in on his gains or the start of a complete sell off on his part. Regardless this will impact GM stock as other Hedge Funds calculate their risk and either buy on the dips or move onto something else.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/22/news...ion=2006112213

 

I don't understand why people like to say "begins to sell off his shares" as if this is just step one of a previously announced plan to ditch his stocks during a planned period.

The truth is, if people paid attention, they would know he's making a major move for MGM Mirage. This in essence required him freeing up capitol from his other investments, why not GM? He's still the second largest shareholder, something that seems to escape people, including the media.

 

Didn't GM put up restrictions where he can't sell off large enough blocks of GM stock to threaten (or blackmail) the company to force it to do his wishes?

 

GM made amendments to its bylaws that require a majority vote for the election of directors.

They also made it mandatory that a company make it public in an attempt of a take over two weeks before the attempt is going to be made. (that's just from my mind, and is more than likely a little bit off.

The SEC is the one that requires companies to make it known when they plan to sell a large amount of stock, but I'm not sure if they can stop it. Just try to prevent it ala Enron and K-Mart.

There's the link for the press release...I can't figure it out!
http://www.thegmsource.com/index.php...2_articleid=87

 

Its a bad move for anyone to sell off GM stock at this point.

 

yea but when your a witherd up billionair its like telling someone not to throw away your pennies ...

 

Seems hes planing on investing elsewhere according to this article...


Wednesday, November 22, 2006
DETROIT - Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian said he will slash his stake in General Motors Corp. by selling 14 million shares of the troubled automaker for about $462 million (euro358.5 million).

The sale, announced in a regulatory filing Wednesday, came on the same day that Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. announced plans to offer about $825 million (euro640.3 million) for up to 15 million shares of MGM Mirage Inc.

The transaction, at $55 per share, would boost Kerkorian's stake in the ownership of the Bellagio in Las Vegas and other casinos to more than 60 percent.

In the GM filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tracinda said it had agreed on Monday to sell the shares at $33 each in a private transaction. The agreement will close on Friday, the filing said.

Kerkorian now owns 56 million shares, or 9.9 percent of GM, according to the LionShares.com financial Web site. The sale would reduce his stake to 42 million, or 7.4 percent of the company's 565.5 million outstanding shares.

Tracinda - which is solely owned by Kerkorian - already holds 158.4 million shares of MGM Mirage, or 56.3 percent of the company's outstanding stock.

GM shares closed down $1.52, or 4.7 percent, at $31.09 on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday. The drop cost Kerkorian about $63 million (euro48.9 million) on his remaining investment in GM.

Burnham Securities analyst David Healy said the MGM and GM actions may be related, but Kerkorian likely has the resources to buy the MGM stake without selling GM stock.

"He's giving them the Chinese water drop torture instead of bailing out all at once," Healy said of the GM sale. "He's still trying to stir the pot."

MGM Mirage shares rose $5.21, or 10.6 percent, to close at $54.21 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Tracinda spokeswoman Carrie Bloom said she could not comment on the GM transaction beyond the SEC filing.

"GM's practice is not to speculate on the motivations of its shareholders," said company spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem.

Last month, Jerome York, a key adviser to Kerkorian, resigned from the GM board, citing a board room environment unreceptive to extensive probing and "grave reservations" about GM's abilities against Asian competitors.

The move came after GM decided against joining an alliance with Renault SA of France and Nissan Motor Corp. of Japan. The three companies began talks on the alliance at the behest of Tracinda.

Healy, who owns GM stock, said investors should stop following Kerkorian and pay more attention to gains made by GM in its turnaround plan.

The struggling GM lost just over $3 billion (euro2.3 billion) during the first nine months of the year, and its U.S. sales are down 9.4 percent. It has cut production and drastically reduced costs by winning health care concessions from the UAW and convincing about 35,000 hourly workers to leave under early retirement or buyout plans.

On top of all that, Toyota Motor Corp. may soon steal GM's crown as the world's largest automaker.

Kevin Reale, an automotive analyst at AMR research, said Kerkorian's move doesn't rule out the possibility that he would start a proxy fight for control of GM.

"I don't think anything is out of the question right now for Mr. Kerkorian for how he's going to work with General Motors," he said. "I don't think we've heard the last of Kerkorian in automotive."

---

AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

 

Ok, my point here is not so much related to the old an selling shares but what I see in almost every article written about GM. Somewhere in the two or three opening sentences of almost every article relating to GM or the domestic auto industry in general are the words "troubled automaker". In a world where perception is everything, journalists drive home this point - accuracy notwithstanding.

Can we not put that phrase to rest and just say GM or the automaker? Cmon, it's been overused in the extreme. No wonder there is so much ambivalence out there. People see and hear those words in association often enough and start to believe it. Now we're at the "why don't they just give up and shut 'er down" stage of things. It's kinda hard to draw customers in to see new product when the death knell is ringing every time you read, watch or hear the news. Why buy that, they'll be gone in a year or so?.....

Yes GM has problems, but so do other companies and you don't necessarily see the same references attached to their names every single time their name comes up.

Rant over...............

 

Agreed. You cant read an article about GM without hearing troubled auto maker or how they lost 10.6 billion dollars last year. Could be about the new turbo 2.0 motor making 260hp, but at the end "this should help the troubled auto maker who lost 10.6 billion dollars last year..." like geeze can you just leave that out of the article?

 

In an article in the financial section of the paper, or website (like this one,) leaving out a detail, like the company losing $10.6 billion dollars in a year would be complete journalistic incompetence, not bias.

Bias is the fact that they dont mention ANYthing positive about the company at all.

 

My how the climate has changed, are we now excepting the fact that the media is bias against GM? This is a +!