Will General Motors and Ford Spin Off Cruise and Argo AI?
Once upon a time, auto investors wondered if the "legacy" automakers would ever be able to muster the software prowess needed to compete with start-ups developing self-driving vehicles. But some of those old automakers -- notably Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) -- answered that question by saying "maybe we can't beat the start-ups, but we can acquire them." GM acquired San Francisco-based self-driving start-up Cruise in 2016 and Ford funded Pittsburgh-based Argo AI about a year later.
Now, both Argo AI and Cruise are widely considered to be among the leaders in the race to deploy self-driving vehicles -- and both have hefty valuations. That has led some Wall Street analysts to ask whether Ford and GM might consider spinning off Argo and Cruise in order to "unlock" those valuations for their own shareholders. In this Motley Fool Live video, recorded on Aug. 5, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool senior auto specialist John Rosevear consider that question -- and conclude that one of the two might well go public before long.
Source Fool.com
