Daimler spent $36 billion to buy Chrysler and sunk tens of billions more into its North American subsidiary in less than a decade.

Tracinda first tried to buy Chrysler but failed to line up financing for the deal.

The financial crisis played a role, as GM was unable to obtain credit to buy Chrysler.

But for Cerberus, buying Chrysler is just the logical culmination of an automotive strategy it has pursued for years.

Same goes for other dumb expansions like buying Chrysler.

Cerberus, by contrast, is buying Chrysler outside of bankruptcy, which brings a different dynamic to the negotiation process.

The five nonunion factories were owned by Daimler before it bought Chrysler.

Daimler used $33 billion worth of stock to buy cash-rich Chrysler.

So if it bought Chrysler outright, and kept all its operations intact, G.M. would again control over just a third of the American car market.

It bought Ford in 1981 and Chrysler in 1982 and held them for twelvefold gains.