Lets see what happens next with either of them?

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Ford Motor Co. is slashing its stake in Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. by nearly two-thirds, joining other struggling U.S. automakers in a fire-sale of prized assets to stay afloat.

Ford, which owns 33.4 percent of Mazda, will sell about a 20 percent stake, the companies said in separate statements.

The sale would net Ford 52 billion yen ($540 million) based on Mazda's closing price Tuesday, barely a quarter of what a 20 percent stake in the Japanese automaker was worth one year ago. Mazda's shares rose 6.4 percent to 184 yen Tuesday amid media reports of a coming sale.

Hit by a slump in the U.S., Ford is burning through cash reserves and, along with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, is seeking a $25 billion government lifeline to weather the deepening economic crisis. On Monday, GM said it would sell its remaining 3.02 percent stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. for 22.37 billion yen ($230 million).

Ford racked up losses of $8.7 billion in the second quarter, its worst result ever, and has used up $11 billion of a cash stockpile in the past year. The share sale was "in line with Ford's plan to strengthen its balance sheet," it said.

Over the last decade, Ford helped engineer a turnaround at once-struggling Mazda, sending executives and sharing technology and auto parts to cut costs.

Ford and Hiroshima-based Mazda, which makes the RX-8 sports car and Miata roadster, said they will maintain their strategic relationship. Ford said it will remain Mazda's largest shareholder and they will continue to share core design platforms and key components.

Mazda said it will buy up to 6.87 percent of its own shares for as much as 17.9 billion yen ($185.3 million) through an off-hours trading system on Wednesday morning and several "strategic business partners" will mop up the rest.

The company was mum on the identities of the other buyers, but media reports mentioned Japanese companies including regional Hiroshima Bank, trading houses Sumitomo Corp. and Itochu Corp., insurance firms including Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. as well as auto parts maker Denso Corp., as purchasers.


http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articl...5b75a95a38b.htm

wow i saw that coming but i didnt think it would have been this soon

540 million? thats nothing, isnt GM losing like 20 billion a month? they used up 11 billion of surplus and now they are excited about 540 million? would be like me getting excited cause I sold something on ebay for $25

GM loses $700 every second of the day

sadly if Ford had sold mazda last year they would have gotten 4 times the amount

13% is the lowest they have had in 40 years

Pretty much off-topic, but some intelligent reading here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/business...8sorkin.html?hp

Yea, pretty much a few drops in the bucket for ford... maybe it'll last them a week or week and a half. Kinda sad that 20% of mazda is worth 540 mil too...

nothings going to happen, ford relies on mazda for money, mazda relies on ford for access to cheap parts.

without ford mazda wouldnt be able to fund its own imagination, which is why ford bought them back in the day, mazda dreamed itself bankrupt.
\nevermind that they share almost all the platforms.

all this does for mazda is give them pull in the office. theyre now free to bring the mazda2 to the states if they find it wise, they dont need to meet ford requirements for new cars (such as ford making them make the rx8 4 door) etc. not like theyre going to become a whole new company now.

in other news, 2010 mazdaspeed 3 is looking nice, big hood scoop, awd is the rumor around the mazda mill but from the video at the 'ring that i saw i doubt AWD, you can see the spring perches on the rear lower arms, coils by themselves generally mean no axles on the rear aka no awd. altho it could be just a fwd mule, but that would be odd. there are sensors monitoring rear tire slip and speed but most likely just cause those wheels dont turn so theyre easier to monitor.

kevin. out.