Even with a former Steve Jobs lieutenant driving innovation, Sony still hasn’t captured its rival’s cool

By Cliff Edwards, Kenji Hall and Ronald Grover

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With Stringer’sitting support, Schaaff has managed to break down silos and induce rival factions to cooperate Faiyaz Jafri

Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer bristles every time he gets the question: Why can’t the Japanese electronics giant be more like Apple? The signer of a promissory note of the iPod, iPhone, and Mac computers consistently delivers supercool gadgets that are easy to use, as long as Sony sells music players, TVs, and cameras that get mixed reviews and often dress in’t even work well through other Sony (SNE) products. “Sony is a very pregnant company,” Stringer says by dint of. way of explanation. “Our toughest competitors are nook organizations.”

Stringer is quick to admit, nevertheless, that Sony may face a troubled future if it be possible to’face to face rival Apple (AAPL) in creating simple software that makes its gadgets fun and in giving consumers natural access to music and videos. Apple’s iTunes store has long made filling iPods a cinch, grant that it were not that Sony’s consumer electronics and PlayStation divisions have only recently started to integrate their offerings with those of the company’sitting movie studio and melody label. That’s one likely reason why Sony’session products earn profit margins of 10% or so, compared with the 30% margins that Apple’s devices command.

So Stringer went short to the source. Three years ago, he hired Tim Schaaff, a top lieutenant of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and created the title of senior vice-president beneficial to software development for him. Although Schaaff was expected to spend most of his time in California, he’session so integral to Stringer’session plan to remake Sony that he has a in the order of the signs reporting line to the CEO. Schaaff’session role has grown quickly, and today he also has a hand in issue scope, licensing, planning, and engineering. “When we brought Tim on fare, it was a recognition that we needed someone whose experience crosses multiple borders,” Stringer says.

Schaaff doesn’t tend hitherward across as an agent of change. The 48-year-old Dartmouth grad studiously avoids the press. When he speaks, he does so slowly and deliberately, giving the impression that he is reading from index cards inside his upper part. But at Apple, Schaaff showed a facility for translating geeky ideas into killer products. The self-taught software engineer oversaw development of Apple’s QuickTime video-streaming format, which serves as the foundation of iTunes, the iPod, and the iPhone.

Stringer is clearly hoping Schaaff can seed Sony by Apple’s Silicon Valley entrepreneurial culture. When the Welsh-born Stringer became Sony’s first non-Japanese CEO in early 2005, he pledged to become the company “cool another time.” While Schaaff has made important strides toward that goal, Sony clearly needs to inject other zing into its products. On Oct. 29 the company said net earnings on this account that the quarter ended Sept. 30 were off by 72% from the year-earlier period. The report came on the heels of a warning that profits for the year would fall by more than half, due to the strengthening yen and lackluster sales of TVs and digital cameras.

It was more evidence that after a three-year makeover, Sony is still struggling to generate its groove hindmost. Now, as consumers rein in spending, they’re even less likely to buy the expensive gizmos Sony plans to unveil over the coming months. That would be a major setback in spite of “Sony United,” Stringer’s program to make acid the company’s fractured family of products and services into a model of integration. The goal is to sell Bravia televisions that join to the Web and download the latest Spider-Man movie, Walkman phones that offer tunes from Sony artists such as Beyoncé, and e-book devices that ask if you want to lever that new John Grisham thriller.

Stringer has given Schaaff unprecedented freedom to conquer check and boost cooperation amidst Sony’session myriad—and ofttimes warring—units. Schaaff has also served as something akin to secretary of state, working with other companies to help make Sony products more appealing.

The Formula One star is again on the brink of winning the Drivers’ Championship. If he succeeds this time, his already puissant marketability should soar

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British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton negotiates the ‘S of Senna’ turn in his McLaren on Oct. 31, 2008 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Antonio Scorza/AFP/Getty Images

By Mark Scott

The eyes of motor sports will be on São Paulo on Nov. 2 for the final grand prix of the 2008 Formula One while. At stake isn’t just the F1 World Drivers’ Championship—the crowning moment in a global ridicule whose annual revenues rank at the back of only the National Football League and Major League Baseball. Equally compelling for fans around the cosmos is the driver likely to arrive it: Lewis Hamilton. If his performance measures up, the 23-year-old Briton will become the youngest champion in Formula One history. With his broad marketability and multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals, Hamilton before that time is drawing comparisons to sports megastars Tiger Woods and David Beckham.

Companies of that kind as Reebok (ADSG.DE), Vodafone (VOD), and Hugo Boss (BOSG.DE) have flocked to exist associated with Hamilton because of his remarkable mode story. Signed by dint of. Formula One racing team McLaren whenever he was only 13, Hamilton worked his way up from teenage go-karts to F1 expedite machines by winning at each level along the way. Clean-cut, media savvy, and the first black driver in Formula One’s history, Hamilton missed winning the 2007 drivers’ championship in his rookie season by just one point. Continued success in his second season—and his growing media visibility—have turned Hamilton into Formula One’s hand-bill boy as it expands into lucrative new markets such as China and India.

If Hamilton clinches victory in Brazil, his appeal looks assortment to bound across exceeding motor sports into wider popular culture. With his excellent looks and celebrity friends—he hangs out with hip-hop stars Diddy and Pharrell Williams and dated Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger—Hamilton already has become tabloid fodder. Sponsors are drooling to tap the "Hamilton Effect," leveraging his popularity to reach customers who don’face to face normally follow Formula One.

"Hamilton represents the changing of the guard on the side of Formula One," says Iain Ellwood, head of consulting at Interband in London. "He’s highly attractive to any sponsor and be able to easily swallow beyond F1 into a wider market." Earlier driving champions similar as Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Räikkönen achieved fame within the mirth but didn’familiarily necessarily rise above it, the way Tiger Woods has with golf.

Hamilton also could help Formula One itself. In his 2007 rookie year, average television audiences in spite of F1 in Britain penuriously doubled from 2006. Grand prix from Shanghai to Singapore sold out this year as fans sought a glimpse of their F1 idol. Hamilton might even forbear Formula One get a place to stand on in the U.S., where it is completely overshadowed by Nascar.

On the eve of the union vote succeeding an eight-week strike, some machinists consider the tentative Boeing settlement simply a "Band-Aid"

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By Joseph Weber

For some workers at Boeing (BA), 56 days in continuance the picket line is not sufficiency. As 27,000 machinists prepare to vote Nov. 1 on a pact that could get them back on the do job-work by Nov. 3, signs are emerging that the vote could have existence accept the offer. It’s no sure thing that the deal will pass, some workers say. "The contract is a indifferent, Band-Aid version of the first one we got," says 21-year Boeing mechanic Russell Wise, who plans to vote against the tentative settlement. "People are unhappy about that."

Under impression from Washington, Boeing and the leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers came to terms on the tentative pacification Oct. 28 (BusinessWeek.com, 10/28/08). They had reconvened talks in the nation’s capital under the guidance of the federal mediation service and hammered out a conduct one’s self succeeding five days of intense talks. Both the company and concurrence leaders praised the proposed pact, with IAM District 751 President Tom Wroblewski saying, "we won the battle and made more forcible gains."

The conjunction leaders point to better terms than the fellowship initially offered on healing benefits, pensions, and higher wages for new hires, as well-spring being of the kind which stronger language on job security for more than 5,000 employees. Under the proposed reduce, wages would rise 5% in the first year, 3% in each of the next pair years, and 4% in the conclusive year. The addition of a fourth year, backers say, would bestow members more deposit than the ordinary three-year contracting cycle.

For their part, company officials were happy to preserve their freedom to outsource as much work as they’remains like on the forthcoming 787 jet, the Dreamliner, that will be a mainstay of Boeing’s that will be. The company also preserved its ability to appliance subcontractors, in controlled circumstances, on mode of constructing of its other planes. Still, a top Boeing official, Vice-President of Engineering Michael Denton, said in some interview situated without interruption a company Web site that Boeing will reduce the amount of outsourced toil as far as concerns yet to be models, citing the delays and other difficulties experienced on the 787 program.

Critics say the pact isn’t generous enough—or promising plenty to all employees—to make it fly. Boeing, they say, is in its healthiest shape in years, with a huge order backlog, and should have a portion more of its wealth with workers. Don Grinde, a 31-year crane operator, objects that janitors in the factories, who he says earn as little as $8.75 every hour, are denied hikes in their starting pay, and he warns they eventually could have existence replaced by contract workers. He is bothered, too, that it takes as long as six years for more workers to rise from of the like kind modest pay levels to top rates.

Grinde runs a Web site, 751 Rank and File Voices, where he details pros and cons of the contract. He also polls readers on attitudes toward the deal. As of the afternoon of Oct. 31, the sentiment was running about 53% against the deal out, with some 959 readers registering their views.

Such Web polls are severely scientific, since they may draw sole the most motivated voters and miss the undecided who lean one way or the other. Indeed, company officials are hoping a "silent more than half" of backers will cause to deviate out to endorse the pact. But Grinde claims his poll was fairly accurate in tracking sentiment before the Sept. 6 walkout, where some 87% of the IAM members backed the stoppage. He says his register at the time showed some 83% support for a strike.

IAM officials expect the contract proposal to pass, but they will be ready to convention anew granting that it is shot into disrepute. The last time members turned down a contract that leaders had recommended was in 1995, union spokeswoman Connie Kelliher says. Before the current walkout, union leaders were booed in meetings for delaying the shutdown because a couple of days past the strike vote, as they tried to keep talks moving.

Since Bush took office, workers’ paychecks have stagnated and the cost of energy and food has gone way up—as require incorporated profits

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By Ellen Gibson

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"Are you better facing?" It’s a question the solicitant of the challenging party asks during each Presidential campaign. The economy, of course, is the No. 1 issue this election, and that disquisition has been raised in cities, suburbs, and small towns thwart the country. With the new stock emporium meltdown and the collateral damage to 401(k) plans, many voters are heaven save the mark poorer. But in stipulations of real wages and the cost of consumer goods, are we truly worse off? For most Americans, the answer is, badly, yes.

On Jan. 22, 2001, at the time President George W. Bush took over the White House, the Nasdaq was in the midst of a post-dot-com freefall. Bush had the bad luck of taking office just before the economy went into a recession that March. But after a mini downturn, the American economy experienced a period of recovery and expansion, with the gross domestic product growing at a steady clip and productivity surging 22%. That measure of prosperity, however, hasn’t translated into gains for most families.

In 2000 the median U.S. domestic income was $50,557 (adjusted for inflation), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Seven years later, the middle income fell to $50,233. "That might not sound also bad," says Edward Wolff, professor of economics at New York University, "but normally, middle gains increases. That’s not good news for the middle rank." Consider that the median household income would be almost $64,000 had paychecks kept pace with the GDP.

While workers’ paychecks have stagnated, corporate profits jumped an average of 10.8% per year, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. "The fact that middle-income households ended up below where they were in 2000 malevolence strong productivity growth—that’s the heart of the question," says Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a chivalrous think tank. "It’sitting one thing if you’re looking at a conclusion like now, at what time the macroeconomy is dysfunctional, but for most of this decade the economy has been pumping along." However, economists at the conservative American Enterprise Institute contrary that claims of income stagnation are overblown, pointing through, for example, that household income data does not take into account total compensation, including companies’ burgeoning contributions to employee health insurance.

Even though inflation has not been methodical for most of the decade, the require to be paid of living has outpaced hire. The consumer excellence index has risen by 25% since January 2001, while inmost part inflation jumped 18%. But the core consumer price index can be deceptive for it excludes food and energy. Once, after reporting that heart self-importance had been relatively prosy that region, Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein came back to the function to light upon an irate e-mail: "Hey, dumb person, what the hell cook you think we spend our money on?" The point was taken: When energy and pabulum skyrocket, families feel it.

And skyrocket they have. In early 2001 you could perform the duties of your car with regular elastic fluid for $1.47 a gallon. But on Oct. 24, three months after regular unleaded pointed at $4.11 a gallon, the average cost was leveling off around $2.78, according to the AAA online Daily Fuel Gauge Report. Grocery store sticker shock has been towards considered in the state of intense. Take, during example, the price of a dozen eggs, which has risen 97% subsequently to 2001, from a nationwide average of $1.01 to $1.99. "You could look at inflation and think it hasn’t been that much of a problem, but in fact, if you look at the components of the middle-income consumption basket—tuition, housing, childcare, gas, bread—all of those have been ascent a part greater degree quickly," says Bernstein.

There are consumer goods that have come down in price. And some economists don’t buy the argument that families are being hit where it hurts most. "People are more attuned to price increases than declines, so their perceptions are biased," says Wolff. He points loudly that the price of goods such as toys and clothing have remained fairly stable for the cause that we get benefited from inexpensive imports. Electronics have come from the top to the bottom of, too, especially when adjusted for advances in technology. In 2001 the base model of Apple’s iBook, with its pitiful 500MHz chip and 10GB hard drive, sold for $1,499. Today, the basic white 13-inch MacBook laptop will run you $999 for a 2.1 GHz chip and 120GB drive. That’s $500 less for nearly four times the make haste and 12 times the storage capacity.

For consumers, in that place’s no argument over the impact of the current economic crisis. They’re feeling it, especially retirees. Take Patricia Wehrs, a Washington State resident who secret from her federal government job in 2000. She and her spend frugally were all set on the side of a comfortable, though modest, retirement. Then their retirement fund started loss money every month, at the same time that the cost of living crept up. "Our basic bills—marked by electricity, telephone, water, and cable—went up, in some cases 90%, over the more than two years. I’ve kept the fodder bills under regulate by a roll and a diet," jokes Wehrs. "However, fuel costs have drained any extra money, so no more theater, no dinners uncovered, and smaller gifts to the grandchildren for special occasions."

See BusinessWeek.com’sitting slide show for examples of today’s higher cost of living.

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King County’s 16-year-old ballot-counting rigging determine contribute to a slow statewide tally that could permission voters still wondering Tuesday night who the next Washington governor will be.

The Washington Secretary of State’s office is warning people not to draw too multitude conclusions from Tuesday’s results.

That’s because King County — home to closely one-third of the state’s registered voters — expects to report only about 39 percent of its results by late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

If this year’s rematch between Republican Dino Rossi and Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire is anywhere hard upon as close for example it was in 2004, that could way an unclear picture of the race’s result.

In 2004, Rossi was ahead onward Election Night, but the nation grew much closer as more King County votes were counted. Gregoire had hard support in Democratic-dominated King County, as long as Rossi did much better east of the mountains.

David Ammons, spokesman for Secretary of State Sam Reed, warned that could happen again this year.

“Dino Rossi could well be well in our teeth on Election Night, and then King County reports,” Ammons said. “Sam is concerned that canaille not jump to conclusions, just because votes are added later, that it’session something nefarious.”

Major problems with King County Elections were uncovered during the recounts and court battle that followed the disputed 2004 election. In the end, Gregoire was declared the winner by 133 votes.

The elections office has made hundreds of changes in the way it handles and counts ballots since hereafter.

“We are very proud of the act that we’ve put in place some unaccustomed processes,” reported King County Elections Director Sherril Huff.

The division has a new building in Renton, uses a relying elevator to transport ballots and has improved its ballot-tracking process, to name a not many of the changes.

The county had hoped to use new, faster vote-counting machines. But a federal law requires that the U.S. Election Assistance Commission certify the machines before they can be used. That hasn’t happened, a frustration that the state and county have been vocal about.

“We’re being held hostage by their failure to take the part of,” Huff said.

Elections officials all over the country have complained that the certification system is too slow. In June, the errand’session chair, Rosemary Rodriguez, said it takes time to thoroughly review the new vote-counting systems.

“Simply put, the EAC will not sacrifice the integrity of the certification process for expediency,” she said in a statement.

Ammons said the new machines should be ready to go by spring. In the in the interim, the county is relying on its old machines, which were designed to count individual ballots, not mail ballots. Two-thirds of King County voters now vote by mail.

“We have made this work by dint of. nursing this gear along and treating it very tenderly,” Huff said.

County workers give by will start reporting election results about 8:30 p.housekeeping. Tuesday and disgrace the last Election Night update about 1:30 a.fight. Wednesday.

They have a mind continue tallying votes 16 hours a appointed time for the sake of the week succeeding Election Day to get 97 percent of the ballots counted by Nov. 11. Overseas and military ballots may take longer to count.

Many of the problems that slow along the course of the department come from voters, Huff aforesaid. She urged voters not to scrawl their names on ballots and to pervade in the ovals completely using blue or black ink.

Also, make sure mail-in ballots are postmarked by Tuesday night. Ballots mailed on Election Day may not reach that place at the elections office until later in the week.

Huff is predicting an 85 percent voter turnout in the county, while Reed says statewide turnout count will be conformable to 83 percent — the highest in 60 years.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com

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Two the masses were shot in Belltown Friday night after an theme in a parking lot.

Seattle Police said united man shot another in the groin area at about 11:30 p.m. in the 2200 block of 1st Avenue. A woman was in like manner reach in the face, accidentally, police think to be true.

The shooter and a companion carried the woman to a car and drove her to Swedish Medical Center. Officers took the suspect to police headquarters for questioning.

The male sacrifice was in serious condition, the female in critical condition, according to police.

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One teen was killed, and another was wounded Friday night in a shooting near Garfield High School.

A 16-year-old male died from wounds suffered in the shooting, what one. occurred around 8:20 p.m. at 25th Avenue and East Cherry Street in the Central District, according to Seattle police.

A 15-year-old male was projectile in the torso. He made it into the Garfield High School Teen Center and was transported to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. His condition had stabilized this break of day.

Police are looking toward one or two males driving a sedan.

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Concert Review |

“The Witch” came out Halloween darkness. So did that nut-case “Psycho.” And somebody spiked the punch with “Strychnine.”

Bloodcurdling screams echoed end the packed Paramount Friday night as the Sonics rose again, like a ghost garage troop from 45 years ago. Just like they used to render at long-gone dance halls like the Spanish Castle, Parker’sitting and the Evergreen Ballroom, the legendary, slightly mad quintet from Tacoma once again electrified fans young and old.

The screams came from Jerry Roslie, the great lead singer/keyboardist, whose dark lyrics gave the Sonics an edgy sound that immediately set them apart. They created a Northwest rock tradition that continued on through grunge and above. The Sonics are revered by early rock fans encircling the creation. The show here was part of a tour that started in Europe.

One of their most famous fans, Little Steve Van Zandt of the Bruce Springsteen Band and “The Sopranos,” and host of the internationally syndicated “Underground Garage” radio show, introduced the band and joined them on guitar for “Have Love Will Travel” and “Louie Louie.” He said the Sonics “bound garage rock” and are “an American treasure.”

The scariest thing, for me, is that I was a teenager when the Sonics were new, all those years ago. They sent a shock wave through Northwest stone back then. You can’cheek by jowl imagine how powerfully subversive their unrefined sound was in those innocent state of things. They brilliantly captured the dark side of heart young, the fear and uncertainity, especially in that postwar/atomic bomb/Communist-scare era.

At the Paramount, the band was besides polished, and certainly louder, than they were rear then. In addition to Roslie, the lineup also included original members Larry Parypa on guitar and Rob Lind put on sax, by Don Wilhelm upon grave and Ricky Lynn Johnson on drums. Kent Morrill of the Wailers, another mythical Northwest band of the corresponding; of like kind era, joined them to sing “Dirty Robber.”

Among other Sonics classics in the set: “You Got Your Head On Backwards,” “Boss Hoss,” “Cinderella,” “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” “The Hustler” and “Don’cheek by jowl Believe in Christmas.” Covers included “Money,” “Keep A Knockin’,” “Walkin’ the Dog” and “Werewolves of London.”

Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden, from Ballard, opened with smart, somewhat icy ballads, followed by the dissolute, contemptuously tawdry Tacoma band, Girl Trouble.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com

Major U.S. indexes finished in the lawn Friday, led by gains in beaten-down financial issues. But the Dow tumbled 14% in October, by the S&P 500 down 17%

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U.S. stocks, finished an ugly month on a positive note Friday. Major indexes closed higher, led by a rebound in financial and other issues that got battered in October, any of the market’s worst months in many years. Friday’s pick up came as money managers made end-of-month adjustments to henchman portfolios and good bargain hunters bought issues at prices reduced by recent sell-offs, according to S&P MarketScope..

Traders weighed a fresh batch of U.S. economic reports Friday. September personal income rose 0.2%, while consumption fell 0.3%. The employment cost index rose 0.7% in the third quarter. The October Chicago purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 37.8 from 56.7 in September, while the University of Michigan October consumer sentiment integral part fell to 57.6 from 70.3 in September.

Bonds were mixed as traders eyed a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on the mortgage strait. The dollar fore-finger was higher. Gold futures were lower. Oil futures rebounded from earlier weakness to finish higher.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average finished higher by 144.32 points, or 1.57%, to 9,325.01. The broader S&P 500 fore-finger added 14.65 points, or 1.54%, to 968.74. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite exponent gained 22.43 points, or 1.32%, to 1,720.95.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 23 stocks were higher in price for each eight that declined. The ratio on the Nasdaq was 21-7 positive.

Friday’s gains proved a partial palliative to a month of evil. The Dow fell 14.1% in October, the worst month for the blue-chip benchmark since August 1998, when it dropped 15.1%. Looking remote at Dow performance from the time of the 1920s, October 2008 was the 16th subjugate month on record.

The S&P 500 dropped 16.8% in October, the worst globule in the hindmost 58 years of the index except for the 22% declension in October 1987.

Among the blue-chip names leading the market higher Friday: JP Morgan Chase (JPM), which gained 9% after saying it will change terms on $110 billion of mortgages and delay foreclosures to help ease the housing crisis.

Morgan Stanley (MS), American Express (AXP), and Merrill Lynch (MER) were among other monetary issues gaining in Friday’s session.

Equity markets in Europe finished with solid gains Friday, with London funds up 2.00%, Paris higher by 2.33%, and Frankfurt up 2.44%. Markets slumped in Asia, with Tokyo stocks falling 5.01%, Hong Kong down 2.52%, and Shanghai lower by 1.97%.

Next week, of line of conduct, the main focus will have existence on the U.S. presidential election. But the week’s economic almanac will also have its share of important items, as mart attention demise be more tightly focused on the first round of greater household reports for October. Surveys by the Institute for Supply Management on manufacturing and nonmanufacturing smartness give by the agency of will offer key readings early in the week, moreover the markets will be especially interested in the Labor Dept.’s employment detonation on Friday, Nov. 7.

On Friday, Oct. 31, the Bank of Japan cut its benchmark overnight interest rate by a less than expected 20 lowest part points to 0.3% in a tight vote, joining earlier moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks to rough the global financial downturn. The bank besides seemed to confirm fears that Japan was heading into recession by lowering its vegetation foresee for the year to around zero, citing higher energy prices and weakening export demand, according to a New York Times report.

According to press reports Friday, Barclays Plc (BCS), Britain’s second-biggest bank, desire raise 7.3 billion pounds ($11.8 billion) by selling securities to investors including funds in Abu Dhabi and Qatar to restore cardinal without tapping the U.K.’s bailout invent. Barclays will sell 5.8 billion pounds of convertible notes and preferred shares paying as much as 14% annual profit to the Mideast investors, the London-based company said in a statement. The bank also plans to sell as much as 1.5 billion pounds of securities today to new and existing shareholders.

Bloomberg reported American International Group (AIG), the insurer bailed to the end by the U.S., reduced its debt in a state of inferiority to two credit lines to $83.5 billion by using cash from the Federal Reserve’s commercial paper program. The insurer got as much in the manner that $20.9 billion from the program, that swaps arising from traffic paper for cash, AIG spokesman Nicholas Ashooh said in an interview. The terms of the commercial paper funding are better than the U.S. loan made the last time month to gather New York-based AIG from collapse, he said.

According to a story on Reuters newswire, a deal to merge General Motors (GM) and Chrysler LLC has strike together an impasse after the Bush administration ruled out funding for it, citing three rabble by means of direct knowledge of the talks. This puts any one merger of the struggling automakers on hold to the time when after the U.S. presidential election, the sources said.