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1、Unit 4 Business in ContextSection ANews Report 1 US Clears Sale of IBM Division to LenovoScript （343）Im Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report. A United States government committee has approved a deal that will make the Chinese company Lenovo Group Limited the third biggest compute
2、r maker in the world. Lenovo and the American information technology company International Business Machines announced the deal in December. Lenovo agreed to buy the personal computer business of IBM for about 1,750 million dollars. IBM would receive 19% ownership of Lenovo in return. And Lenovo wil
3、l move its headquarters from Beijing to New York. But at the time, it was not clear if the deal would be approved. Several American lawmakers had raised concerns about the deal in a letter to Treasury Secretary John Snow in January. Three United States representatives signed the letter. It said the
4、Chinese government reportedly controlled a main shareholder of Lenovo, Legend Holdings. The lawmakers asked the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States to investigate the deal. They said the deal could involve giving China new technology. They noted that sales rights and government sal
5、es agreements could pass to the foreign-owned company. The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States held meetings on the deal. The meetings were not open to the public. The Wall Street Journal newspaper said the committee spent more time than usual considering the effects of the deal. O
6、n March 9, IBM and Lenovo announced that the committee would not object to their plan. Reports say the committee did place some restrictions on the deal. Lenovo and IBM employees will work in separate buildings at a shared complex near Raleigh, North Carolina. The Committee on Foreign Investments in
7、 the United States is in the Department of the Treasury. It has twelve members including the secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, and the Treasury. The Attorney General and the United States Trade Representative are also members. The committee was established in 1975. It was formed to consider a
8、nd possibly investigate foreign investment in America. Its job is to confirm that national security is not affected by the sale of sensitive businesses or investments to foreign interests. (from: http:/ Report 2 Finding a Buyer for ChryslerScript（355）This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
9、Who will succeed in buying Chrysler, the troubled carmaker in the United States? The competition is just getting started. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of DaimlerChrysler, confirmed last week that his company was in talks with possible buyers for its Chrysler Group. Chrysler has been part of the German c
10、ompany for less than ten years. Investor Kirk Kerkorian has offered four and one-half billion dollars for Chrysler through his investment company, Tracinda. He says he would seek a “true partnership” with Chrysler workers and labor union members. He tried to buy Chrysler in 1995. Now Mister Kerkoria
11、n has even offered one hundred million dollars for the right to negotiate the sale with DaimlerChrysler. But published reports suggest that DaimlerChrysler officials have not shown much interest in his offer. Three other groups have also made offers. Chrysler was one of Americas Big Three independen
12、t automobile makers, along with General Motors and Ford. But Chrysler joined with Daimler-Benz in 1998.Since the merger, Chrysler has struggled. The company has lost market share in the United States to Japanese carmakers like Toyota. Last year, the Chrysler Group lost one and one-half billion dolla
13、rs. The company is cutting jobs in North America.Besides Kirk Kerkorian, two private equity groups have offered to buy Chrysler. Cerberus Capital Management has made an offer. So has a partnership of the Blackstone Group and Centerbridge Partners. The value of these offers has not been made public.P
14、rivate equity groups are specialists in what is known as taking a publicly traded company private. They buy all the stock in the company. Then they make changes to the business in an effort to add value. Finally they sell the company back to public shareholders for a profit. Magna International, a C
15、anadian maker of car parts, has also made an offer to buy Chrysler. Magna reportedly has offered more than four and a half billion dollars.Labor unions are likely to play an important part in negotiations to sell Chrysler. Workers have said they will oppose any sale if it means more job cuts, or cut
16、s in pay or retirement benefits like health care. Not only that, the company is said to have at least fifteen billion dollars to litter in its retirement plan. And thats the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts and audio archives of our programs are at . (from: http:/www.uns
