| Another Round of Chrysler Bids Expected This Week
Potential Chrysler suitors are expected to make another round of bids for the Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automaker this week. The bids could trickle in as early as today because parent company DaimlerChrysler AG [ticker: DCX] is preparing for senior-level management meetings Wednesday, with the sale an expected hot topic. If a deal were to take place in the near future, operations and production of automobiles would likely transfer to the new parent quickly, while DaimlerChrysler might retain a stake in the financing operations for an extended period of time, according to unnamed sources in a Detroit News article. Daimler’s minority stake would likely preclude them from any day-to-day management over any part of the company, an unnamed source said. Private equity firms Cerberus Capital Management and The Blackstone Group as well as Canadian auto parts maker Magna International with partner Onex Corp.
New-home builders try auctions, some online, as the market softens
Could something akin to eBay auctions be the next stop for new-home builders facing a glut of unsold properties? Inland builders in recent months have been cutting prices and throwing in extras such as free swimming pools to move their new houses in a slowing market. And recently, joining a national trend, some are finding success with public auctions, traditionally seen more as a way to sell artwork or rare antiques. Some of those builders are incorporating online elements into their auctions, giving Web shoppers a chance to bid in real time against the on-premises participants. .
Christie's to auction mammoth, meteorite
For sale: a mammoth skeleton, a 150-kilogram meteorite and a kind of giant pearl formed in the stomachs of certain animals. Christie's auction house in Paris is hosting an unusual auction of paleontological curiosities, including several prehistoric mammals. The sale takes place Monday. Bidders interested in buying the star specimen - a 15,000-year-old Siberian mammoth dubbed "The President" - will need at least 150,000 euros ($A244,000). Also a lot of floor space: Tusks and all, it's 3.8 metres high and 4.8 metres long. Skeletons of a 10,000-year-old, 4.1-metre-long rhinoceros and a 2.3-metre-high cave bear are also going under the hammer. These skeletons are currently owned by a private collector, but buyers could include museums or artists, said Christie's spokeswoman Capucine Milliot.
JPS Awards Job Bids to Ellis Hearing Officer
WLBT news is learning more about the bids awarded by Jackson Public Schools to Charles McClelland. McClelland is the hearing officer assigned to former Chastain Middle School principal Michael Ellis' termination hearing. Ellis' attorneys provided us with the results of their open records request. The documents show the district recommended McClelland Moving and Storage be awarded bids for two separate jobs.. 262-thousand dollars for moving services at Jim Hill and Wingfield High Schools.. And 67-thousand-500 dollars for moving services at Bradley Elementary. His awards total 329-thousand 550 dollars. Terry's Installation Company was also awarded bids for moving services.. Totalling just over 344-thousand 7-hundred dollars. Ellis' attorneys, Lisa Ross and Louis Watson., believe McClelland has a conflict of interest and should not be hearing their client's case.
Online auction of Nicole Smith diaries fails
BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Two bidders for two Anna Nicole Smith diaries pulled out of an online auction Saturday because of allegations the diaries had been stolen, an auction house spokesman said Sunday. The two diaries -- written in the early 1990s -- failed to sell and are now available for a minimum bid of 25,000 U.S. dollars each. "We have a buy-it-now situation," said Doug Norwine, the director of music and entertainment memorabilia at Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas. Among the two bidders' concerns were allegations by Smith's lawyer/partner, Howard K. Stern, the diaries had been stolen and should be returned to her estate, Norwine explained. "They just got cold feet," he said.
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