The Large US Companies That May Disappear In 2008

Wall Street 24/7 ^ | 1-24-08 | Douglas A. McIntyre

[mamelukesabre]

The company does not exist anymore. Someone bought the rights to the name and logo. That’s all. It’s probably owned by a japanese company now.

[Age of Reason]

They are poorly managed because existing tax laws encourage CEO’s to do what they can to make their stock shares increase in value aa quickly as possible . . .

No matter if that wrecks the company in a few years, by which time they leave with their stock and golden parachute.

Increase income tax rate to 90% of personal income over a million a year, and those same CEO’s will have to spend decades working to retire in style.

This would encourage them to run a company for the long term.

That’s how it used to be.

[Age of Reason]

See my post above, #82, for the solution.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I thought Studebaker became Gravely Corp.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Thanks for asking.

If I could create some sort of construct, it would involve complete, wild-west no holds barred anything-goes competition domestically.

Combined with a hard tough-as-steel national trade policy which brooked no quarter, and hammered on our competitors without mercy or pause, until America owned them.

Obviously, both would end up compromises some measure from those two ideals... :)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I drove one of these a long time ago. Seats were very low and the windshield was small...

[eyedigress]

That is precisely what happened with Iridium. They made 6B in 1996 on that, and those guys are gone.

[NVDave]

I’m glad someone here on FR is paying attention where they should be.

You’re spot-on. This is why I’ve been telling people on various threads to quite spouting macro-economic stats and start paying attention to the credit markets. All this pointing at the macro econ stats and saying “the economy isn’t that bad, why is the Fed cutting?!” and “Bernanke is going to make the US dollar worthless!”

The monolines being downgraded is a BIG hit on the credit markets. Huge, in fact.

Without a huge infusion of capital, I don’t see the monolines getting their AAA’s back soon.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Kohl’s? Do they sell suits?

Yep, they do.

You should see the Ralph Lauren suit I picked up there on sale last month. A real beauty that fits like a dream. Pure wool...for $105....marked down 75%. I watched the price go down for months and hit a sale.

I'll look real sharp when I go on interviews after my job is off-shored in Q4-2008.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Wasn’t it originally RCA Victor?

(dog, and the old Victrola)

RCA Victor, became Japan Victor Corp? (JVC) perhaps?

[CGASMIA68]

thats the spirit

[eyedigress]

LOL, I bought some small rugs there a month ago. (They didn’t fit) :(

[Sender]

AMD and Samsung are two companies that I know I can buy their products without worry. I am typing on an AMD PC and listening to a Samsung MP3 box now.

If anyone foreign has to get involved with AMD, I would much rather have the Koreans get it than the Chinese. Korea is becoming the Mecca of technology.

[mamelukesabre]

From Wikipedia:

AM General’s roots (and its location in South Bend) lie with the “General Products Division” of Studebaker, which, along with its substantial defense contracts, was acquired by Kaiser Industries after Studebaker left the auto industry in 1966. American Motors Corporation (AMC) became the owner when it purchased the Jeep Corporation from Kaiser in 1970, and Kaiser left the auto business. In 1971, AMC made the General Products Division of Jeep (producing contract and non-commercial vehicles) a wholly owned subsidiary and renamed it AM General Corporation. American Motors ended its history as an independent automaker in 1982 when controlling interest in the company was purchased by France’s Renault. US Government regulations forbade ownership of defense contractors by foreign governments, and Renault was partially owned by the French government. Therefore, in 1983, AM General was sold by AMC to the LTV Corporation and it became a wholly owned subsidiary of the LTV Aerospace and Defense Company.

[Centurion2000]

A Javelin? Are you smoking crack? wow .... :)

That thing was the biggest POS vehicle my family owned back in the 70's and we went through a LOT of them as my dad was hell on cars. I still remember our javelin and how the interior came off in your hands and the armrests would fall off. That thing made a yugo like like a high quality piece of automotive engineering.

[eyedigress]

Digital Stream was writing the code for Philips in 03, I think they may be Korean.

[Centurion2000]

The monolines being downgraded is a BIG hit on the credit markets. Huge, in fact.

For some of us n00bs to finance can you explain what these things do exactly? Thanks.

[dennisw]

I have a ton of respect for Korean hi tech products and Samsung has it’s act together. They are very big in memory and LCDs just to start.

AMD-—>>> Am typing on a Athlon 4600 X2 (AM2) computer I put together

[mamelukesabre]

From Wikipedia:

RCA, formerly an acronym for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson. The trademark is used by two companies, namely Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Thomson SA (the owner of the RCA name), which licences the name to other companies like Audiovox for products descended from that common ancestor.

BTW, RCA-victor was a merger between victor and RCA. Victor made the “victrola” phonograph. That’s the one with the dog. I could be wrong, but I think “motorola” was originally the “car radio” division of victor(victrola)...motor-victrola...get it?

[Squawk 8888]

Brand names often live on long long after the companies that owned them have ceased to exist.

Very true; brand names are often the most valuable asset a company has. That's why GM still markets Pontiac, Chevrolet and Buick decades after buying them out.