(2005-05-05) — Executives at Ford and General Motors today challenged a move by Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the big automakers’ debt to ‘junk’ status.
In a teleconference with institutional investors, they made a vigorous pitch for buying what they called “quality-checked” or “certified pre-owned” bonds.
“‘Junk bond’ has such a negative sound,” said an unnamed GM spokesman. “A man can’t come home to his wife and say ‘Honey, I bought some junk bonds today.’ We need to give our non-investment-grade debt a name that conveys prestige, style, success and hope for a better tomorrow.”
The executives suggested that investors think of GM and Ford debt as ‘creampuff bonds’ or ‘genuine classic bonds’.
Both automakers’ stock prices dropped sharply today with GM selling at $30.86/share and Ford at $9.70/share, or best offer.
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1 basil's blog // May 6, 2005 at 7:23 am
Breakfast: 5/6/2005
Try one of these specials with your breakfast: Dan has a confession. ScrappleFace has Ford and GM’s response to Standard