By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer July 7 2006: 2:37 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors said Friday it would hold "exploratory discussions" with Renault and Nissan regarding a potential historic combination of three of the world's largest automakers. The statement from GM said the decision to start talks was a "recommendation by the company's senior management." But it is clear that the push came from Kirk Kerkorian, the company's largest shareholder, who a week ago wrote to GM to say that Nissan and Renault, which already have joint ownership positions in each other, was interested in buying "a significant minority interest" in GM. Read full article: GM Board Ok's start of talks with Nissan and Renault Ok, what do you think about this?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Three60guy @ Jul 7 2006, 11:54 AM) [snapback]282649[/snapback]</div> I think Kerkorian is driving the value of his 9.9% share of GM up in preparation to do what he did with his Daimler-Chrysler stock...sell. Other than Ghosn 'offing' more employees and streamlining offerings, I doubt that there is any engineering 'magic' that will turn GM around due to this deal. GM could do (and is doing) much of this already. If the merger would result in restructuring the UAW and pension contractual debt to make it more manageable, then perhaps GM can survive.
