That's a bit unexpected. Apparently the auction organised by Ford to sell Aston Martin has been won by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. You know, leather purses and expensive cognacs
Nothing has yet been confirmed by Ford, but the rumour is Ford sold 85% of Aston for over $1 billion. I'm waiting for the official press release.
As for LVMH, they certainly have cash (2,7 billion euros of profit in 2005) , so financially AML should be secure. And the remaining 15% that Ford kept should mean that they want to retain the technological ties. Which makes sense since all the current models are based on Ford's technology. So maybe the outcome of this transaction won't be that bad after all. I hope so.