Carlos Ghosn says he's the victim of a conspiracy by 'backstabbing' Nissan execs - CNN

"This is about a plot, this is about conspiracy, this is about backstabbing," Ghosn said in the seven-minute video, which was recorded before he was arrested last week in Japan for a fourth time.

Ghosn, who once led a global autos alliance that consisted of Renault (RNLSY), Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, claimed in the video that fears over a merger had prompted a revolt at Nissan and led to his ouster.

Neither Ghosn nor his lawyer, Junichiro Hironaka, offered a response to the latest allegations of financial misconduct that prompted the auto executive's arrest and return to jail.

Nissan declined to comment on the video.

Japanese prosecutors accused Ghosn last week of siphoning off $5 million in payments made by Nissan (NSANF) to a dealer that he controlled.

Ghosn is awaiting trial on separate charges that he understated his income for years and abused his position by transferring personal investment losses to Nissan. He has denied those charges.

"Unless Ghosn can offer evidence showing he did not steal from Nissan, his position is untenable," said Stephen Givens, who has been practicing law in Japan for more than 30 years.

"If the facts are as suggested, this is devastating for Ghosn," added Givens.

Hironaka told reporters that he would file a special appeal to Japan's Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that there was no reason for Ghosn's rearrest.

Ghosn is now back at the Tokyo jail where he was held for 108 days until he posted $9 million bail in March. Prosecutors can hold Ghosn until April 24, after which they must indict or release him.

His arrest and detention has led to scrutiny of Japan's judicial system, which allows suspects to be questioned without a lawyer. Prosecutors in Japan also boast an extremely high conviction rate.

Hironaka criticized the treatment of Ghosn on Tuesday, saying the morning raid that preceded his latest arrest was "inhumane."

Lawyers, including former public prosecutors, say that complaints of human rights abuse will do little to aid Ghosn's defense when his trial begins later this year.

Renault unveiled new allegations against Ghosn last week, claiming that expenses incurred by its former CEO and chairman involved "questionable and concealed practices" that violated its ethics rules.

The French carmaker also announced Ghosn's resignation from its board.

Asked Tuesday whether Ghosn had any regrets about the nearly 20 years he spent leading Nissan, Hironaka said:

"He's saying it is a conspiracy. He doesn't think there is anything to regret."

Nissan cut its last remaining ties with Ghosn on Monday when shareholders voted to oust him from the board.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/09/business/carlos-ghosn-video-nissan/index.html

2019-04-09 10:01:00Z
52780264426143

Tariffs Hit Appliance Shoppers, Manufacturers In Different Ways - NPR

Enlarge this image

Washing machines, dryers and other appliances are seen for sale at a Lowe's home improvement store in Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 2018. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

It was a daunting task. Amid a major renovation, Jani Mussetter needed a lot of appliances: a washer, dryer, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher and stove. As she visited showrooms in January, a stressful thing kept coming up: warnings of a price increase on Feb. 1.

For Mussetter, shopping for higher end appliances, that potentially meant paying hundreds of dollars more. And why? "They said, because of all the tariffs," the San Francisco resident says.

Tariffs and the trade war have been in the news for more than a year, since President Trump began imposing higher taxes on various imported products and materials.

For regular American shoppers, major household appliances perfectly illustrate the complicated reality of the trade dispute. One tariff was a boon to some domestic manufacturers. But other tariffs hiked costs for the entire industry worldwide. Prices on appliances are now slowly recovering from their biggest increase in about five years.

Whirlpool's gamble

Whirlpool, a leading American appliance maker, is at the heart of the issue. Its prices had barely changed for many years, says G.research housing analyst Alvaro Lacayo. Then, in 2018, he says, "you saw a big tick upward."

At first, higher prices were welcome news for Whirlpool. They reflected the company's victory over its two main foreign competitors, South Korea's LG and Samsung.

Whirlpool — which also own Maytag, Jenn-Air and other brands — had spent years arguing that LG and Samsung had been "dumping appliances into the U.S. market at below cost, rendering competition irrational," as Lacayo put it.

In January 2018, President Trump agreed with Whirlpool. He set a new tariff, or tax, on imported washing machines, starting at 20 percent. So, selling washers to Americans became more expensive for foreign companies. And domestic manufacturers like Whirlpool could finally raise prices.

But then, Trump imposed more tariffs, on metals including aluminum and steel. Steel, in particular, is critical to building almost any appliance.

Suddenly, appliance makers everywhere, including Whirlpool, began complaining about the rising cost of raw materials. They had little choice but to start raising their own prices.

"Global steel costs have risen substantially and, particularly in the U.S., they have reached unexplainable levels," Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said during an analyst call in July 2018.

What happens next

Steve Sheinkopf owns Yale Appliance & Lighting in the Boston area, and he's a third-generation owner. "We have been here for almost 100 years now, it's hard to believe," he says.

Many brands Sheinkopf works with — like Wisconsin-based Sub-Zero and Wolf or Germany's Thermador — regularly inch up their prices, he says, but the increases in the past year have been bigger than most.

Sheinkopf predicts that appliance prices are probably stabilized at this point, at least for a while. But for shoppers who chase sales and specials, he says, promotions haven't been as good as they used to be three to four years ago.

Overall, prices of major appliances tracked by the consumer price index are starting to tick down month-to-month. But they are still higher than they were last year.

"On certain products, you could be looking at a 14- to 16-percent increase from last year to this year," Sheinkopf says. "When you talk about [washing] machines that people want to buy, front-loaders, I think you're looking at $200 to $400 difference versus last year."

Many companies stretched some of the price increases into early 2019, still citing high costs of raw materials as well as changes in the currency market and labor costs. That's what Mussetter experienced as she rushed to buy appliances for her remodel before Feb. 1.

"I'd be really bummed if I was walking in today," she says with a laugh. Mussetter did manage to buy all her appliances ahead of the price jump. Later, she learned this saved her $1,250.

And one other thing happened last year, Whirlpool's Korean competitors, LG and Samsung, fast-tracked new manufacturing plants — in America. It's great news for American jobs. But for Whirlpool?

"I think this is the biggest challenge they'll ever have," Sheinkopf says.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/09/711001915/tariffs-complex-ripple-effects-hit-appliance-shoppers-and-makers

2019-04-09 09:03:00Z
CAIiEGJ5953jZ0I0KFFoTdTBmgUqFggEKg4IACoGCAow9vBNMK3UCDCvpUk

Celebrity jeweler says Elon Musk canceled meeting after Instagram video - Business Insider

Tesla CEO Elon Musk.Joe Skipper/Reuters

Celebrity jeweler Ben Baller said Tesla canceled his meeting with CEO Elon Musk after Baller posted on social media after being locked in his Model X SUV.

Baller described the experience, which he documented on Instagram, and Tesla's response in an April 4 Instagram post. He said he was locked in his Model X for 47 minutes after the vehicle went into low-power mode before exiting through the trunk.

Read more: Tesla fired dozens of salespeople after its disappointing Q1 delivery report

According to Baller, Musk's assistant requested that he contact her about future issues instead of posting on social media and said his meeting with Musk was canceled. The meeting came after Baller made a $37,000 ring with Tesla's name and logo as a gift to Musk. (Baller said he will hold an auction for the ring and donate the earnings to charity.)

Baller said he understood why their meeting was canceled, but added that the Model X incident raised significant safety concerns.

"I will never allow my kids to ever get into a Tesla again especially London since I can't risk that even 1% chance of being stuck while he's having an [asthma] attack and we wait for Tesla roadside assistance to not show up," he wrote.

Baller said Tesla allowed him to cancel his Model X lease early without paying a fee. 

"I’m not saying I’m against Elon or Tesla. I’m only saying it’s not the car for me or my family," Baller said of the Model X.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Have you worked for Tesla? Do you have a story to share? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrity-jeweler-ben-baller-says-elon-musk-canceled-meeting-after-instagram-video-2019-4

2019-04-08 22:10:41Z
52780263747622

Fiat Chrysler will pay Tesla to dodge billions in emissions fines - The Verge

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has struck a deal with Tesla to count the Silicon Valley automaker’s cars as part of its fleet in the European Union, lowering FCA’s average emissions output ahead of strict new EU regulations coming in 2021. Tesla will make “hundreds of millions of euros” from the sale of these emissions credits, according to the Financial Times.

The scheme resembles the way regulatory credits can be bought and sold in the United States, which has been a steady (if relatively small) business for Tesla for many years. The electric automaker made $103 million selling emissions credits in 2018, $280 million in 2017, and $215 million in 2016, according to a recent financial filing.

FCA, which owns brands like Jeep and Dodge, announced in mid-2018 that it plans to spend 9 billion euros (or just over $10 billion) by 2022 to add more electric and hybrid cars to its lineup. But analysts have said that is likely not enough to avoid billions of euros in fines for exceeding the EU’s target, which is 95 grams of CO2 per kilometer average across a carmaker’s whole fleet. In 2018, Fiat Chrysler’s average was estimated at 123 grams per kilometer.

Not only are the FCA fleet’s average emissions among the worst in the industry, the automaker was sued by the US Department of Justice in 2017 for allegedly using software to fool regulators into thinking its cars were compliant. FCA settled those charges for $800 million without admitting any wrongdoing, but it also recently recalled nearly 1 million vehicles in the US for violating emissions standards.

Tesla brought in $21.4 billion in revenue in 2018, with $7.2 billion coming in the final quarter alone, so hundreds of millions of euros will make up a small portion of the overall money the company generates. But Tesla might still need help with its cash this year. While the company hasn’t released financial figures for the first quarter of 2019, it announced last week that it saw a quarter-to-quarter decline in deliveries for the first time in almost two years. And CEO Elon Musk said in February that he didn’t expect the company to turn a profit in the first quarter after posting back-to-back profits for the first time in the company’s history in the second half of 2018.

Tesla finished 2018 with $3.7 billion in cash, but $920 million of that was used to pay off some of the company’s $11 billion debt that came due in March. Following the release of the delivery figures, some typically bullish Wall Street analysts (like Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas) estimated that the automaker burned through more of those reserves this quarter. Jonas and others have also estimated that Tesla will need to raise more money this year — something Musk has denied.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/8/18300393/tesla-fiat-chrysler-credits-european-union-emissions-fines

2019-04-08 19:24:07Z
52780263429139

Former Ocean Resort owner Bruce Deifik dies in car crash after Colorado Rockies game - Press of Atlantic City

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

1. Former Ocean Resort owner Bruce Deifik dies in car crash after Colorado Rockies game  Press of Atlantic City
2. Developer, former casino owner Deifik dies in crash driving home from Rockies game  FOX 31 Denver
3. Bruce Deifik, developer who reopened Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City, dies in Colorado car wreck  NJ.com
4. Bruce Deifik, former owner of Ocean Resort Casino, reported dead in Colorado  Philly.com
5. Former Ocean Resort owner Bruce Deifik dies in crash after Colorado Rockies game  Press of Atlantic City
6. View full coverage on Google News

https://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/press/casinos_tourism/former-ocean-resort-owner-bruce-deifik-dies-in-colorado/article_4a3b4f9b-7e9d-5508-b60e-f05dcdc0c3e7.html

2019-04-08 15:15:00Z
52780264242510

Tesla sells European emissions law lifeline to Fiat Chrysler - Ars Technica

Enlarge / The ultimate compliance car? Sergio Marchionne, the late CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, had said that the company lost either $14,000, or $20,000, on every Fiat 500e, depending who you believe.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Over the weekend, the Financial Times reported that Tesla and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) have entered into an agreement that will deliver Tesla a fresh influx of cash and deliver FCA from the hands of Europe's tough new emissions regulations. Beginning next year, new European Commission rules begin to phase in that require a car maker's fleet-wide emissions to average no higher than 95g/CO₂/km—a figure that works out at roughly 57mpg for gasoline vehicles, or 76mpg for diesel-powered vehicles.

From 2020, 95 percent of an automaker's new cars sold in the EU have to meet this target, with the remaining 5 percent falling under the law in 2021. And the penalties for failing are draconian: a €95 ($107) "excess emissions premium" per gram of CO₂ over the target, for every single car registered in the EU that year. For some OEMs, this has the potential to be ruinous; if FCA's portfolio were the same in 2021 as it was in 2018, the automaker would have to pay some €2.77 billion ($3.12 billion), out of total net global profits of €3.63 billion ($4.1 billion).

Some OEMs are going all-out in their efforts to electrify in order to meet the new rules; VW's Roadmap E should be viewed in this context, for example. But for others, the road to electrification is not so simple. Although FCA announced a bold, €9 billion ($10.5 billion) plan to electrify its lineup by 2022, its actual plug-in portfolio is currently limited to the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid (which is not sold in the EU) and the Fiat 500e, a car thought to lose the brand many thousands of dollars for each one sold.

Although the exact financial terms of the deal are unknown, the FT says it the agreement is in the range of "hundreds of millions of euros." Interestingly, the FT also reports that Tesla had extended the offer to other OEMs to join this emissions pool but that none had accepted by the March 25th deadline. For Tesla, this will no doubt be a welcome financial lifeline. Each of Tesla's four profitable quarters since the company was founded in 2003 have depended heavily upon the sale of Zero Emissions Credits in California. Although the company has yet to release its results for Q1 2019, we do know that it suffered a precipitous drop in sales during the first three months of the year, particularly among the high-margin Model S and Model X electric cars.

Furthermore, the company has had to dip into its cash reserves to meet a hefty $920 million bond payment, with more debt coming due soon. And if that wasn't enough, the company needs to develop and then build the Model Y electric crossover, which will require heavy investment in capital expenditures. (This kind of spending has fallen heavily of late as Tesla has slashed its budget wherever it can in an attempt to improve its financial performance for the market.)

However, it's unlikely to be a long-term panacea; at some point, FCA's electrification has to happen (or it has to withdraw from selling vehicles in the EU). In the meantime, it now needs Tesla to sell as many EVs in Europe as it possibly can.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2019/04/tesla-sells-european-emissions-law-lifeline-to-fiat-chrysler/

2019-04-08 14:23:00Z
52780263429139

Here's who will get rich from Pinterest's IPO - CNBC

Pinterest is seeking a valuation of up to $9 billion when it debuts on the public market this spring, which will rake in hundreds of millions for each of its founders and other major stakeholders. Pinterest's valuation was said to be $12 billion nearly two years ago when it raised its last round of funding.

The company plans to sell 75 million Class A shares at $15 to $17 per share when it starts trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "PINS," according to a regulatory filing. Pinterest will use a dual-class structure to concentrate voting power among major stakeholders including co-founders Benjamin Silbermann and Evan Sharp. These stakeholders will own Class B shares.

Lyft similarly debuted with a dual-class structure when it hit the public market earlier this month. But unlike Lyft, whose founders are the sole owners of Class B shares, other major stakeholders in Pinterest like Andreessen Horowitz and FirstMark will also own this class of stock.

Pinterest is still on the early end of a wave of large tech IPOs anticipated this year. Uber and Slack are among some of the biggest public debuts expected to hit the public market as well.

Here's what each of Pinterest's major stakeholders stand to hold after its public offering, based on their post-IPO share counts and assuming the stock prices at the midpoint of its stated range at $16 per share:

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Watch: Pinterest sets its IPO price range at $15 to $17

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/08/pinterest-ipo-the-largest-shareholders.html

2019-04-08 13:30:15Z
52780263941233