I was an investor in Formica's first LBO, and I am a modest investor in its third LBO experience. I am betting that the company will prosper under the leadership of Vince Langone. Let's pretend that thousands of people in small towns and cities in Kansas order over the Internet. Ill. The Gears Are Still Grinding at DaimlerChrysler I recently visited a friend at the expansive headquarters of DaimlerChrysler near Stuttgart. At lunchtime, however, it became obvious that some Americans, a contingent from Detroit, were confused as they attempted to pay at the cash register of Daimler's cashless cafeteria.
Integration is complicated and does seem to be going slowly.
Investors are right to be worried, as so many in top management are absorbed by the complications of integration and the resulting confusion. I would not be at all surprised if those Americans are still in the cafeteria trying to figure out how to pay for lunch. I was struck by the incongruity of two articles. The article makes much of the fact that the Comptroller of the Currency is accountable to the Treasury Secretary, a Presidential appointee, while the Federal Reserve, the other player in this turf fight, is disengaged from campaign finance. This hardly is evidence that bank regulation and supervision has become politicized.