Harley sells MV Augusta for 1 Euro!

[woziak]

Motorcycle.com Article

In addition to the $109 million spent to acquire MV Agusta, including $70 million to pay off existing debts, Harley-Davidson has written off $162.6 million in taxes for the Italian brand.

[down]

What if they spend this amount on... [mad]

 

[bbletterin]

I guess Harley makes more by writing off their bad decisions rather than fixing them. I am quite sure they did the same with Buell. It was probably more advantagis to write off Buell than sell to anyone intrested. Tax write of vs pay taxes on a sale.I wish I knew how to "write off" my debits.

 

[upthemaiden]

aaaahhh... corporate welfare, HD really is more Aerican than I thought they were.

 

[Red93stang]

UNBELIEVABLE!!! HD has lost their mind! But yes folks this is the way we do business in America.

 

[afinley]

You "write stuff off" all the time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write-off

Harley declared $162.6 million in taxes a total loss, they did not recieve $162.2 million. So, this is kind of the opposite of corporate welfare.

 

[upthemaiden]

I'll admit i didn't get to read the whole article since I saw this when I was getting ready for work. I just assumed they were doing something scummy.

 

[afinley]

Well, I'm not say that isn't also the case

 

[atir]

it is not secret that closing of Buell cost HD $125M, plus this...

if HD sold Buell and closed MV Agusta (the opposite of what they did), could have made some money.

 

[myronman3]

quick, someone blame the union.

 

[MuSh]

damn unions.

 

[Alfatango1]

So, this is kind of the opposite of corporate welfare.

Not really when they get to claim this loss (stupid business decision) against profits. It lowers their tax liability by that $162 million. I don't understand it, just like the way one can claim gambling losses against income. Why can't I claim beer? Heck gambling is something people enjoy and beer is something I enjoy so why can't I write it off against my earnings too?

 

[upthemaiden]

That's kinda what I was thinking, they screw up, get out of paying taxes that the rest of the american public has to cover. I didn't look into it too much further than that.

At the same time, I wish I had known that MV Agusta was selling for $1, I probably would've taken it.

 

[Jabaniz]

mv Augusta is a really cool bike too. lots of sweet Italian design in it, too bad another bike may go down the tubes due to poor business management

 

[afinley]

Not really when they get to claim this loss (stupid business decision) against profits. It lowers their tax liability by that $162 million. I don't understand it, just like the way one can claim gambling losses against income. Why can't I claim beer? Heck gambling is something people enjoy and beer is something I enjoy so why can't I write it off against my earnings too?

1. Harley, like you, pays taxes on revenue, not profit. So, just because you do not generate profit from your income, does not mean you do not need to pay taxes on it.

2. In addition to their loses, they also wrote off $162m in taxes. That means they paid $162 million in taxes for something they declared as a total loss. They did not "avoid" paying taxes or duck $162m in taxes that was later added to your bill. They paid $162m in taxes for the privilege of losing $109m on owning MV.

 

[upthemaiden]

too bad another bike may go down the tubes due to poor business management

Is there a reason anything bad would happen to MV agusta now? One of the few things I got from the article was that HD sold it back to the original owner and his son. After what paid them for it, and then buying it back for $1, I would think it should be safe for a little while, right??

There was an MV Agusta f4 on craigslist for $6500 with only 2000 miles on it when I was browsing for my XB. I was so tempted, but really didn't feel like spending that much on a bike at this point in time. I'm already gentle on the xb because it's going to be so hard to get parts for, but I would've been afraid to even ride the MV just because of how much it would've cost to fix if anything happened, so it's a good thing I didn't. People would've cried when my cheap ass turned it into a street fighter just because of a cracked fairing, haha.

 

[afinley]

I think a fightered MV F4 would be awesome. Just the mufflers being exposed would make for an awesome bike.