The bigger plant is still in the investors' pockets. (No moral judgement implied.)

Depends on who are the investors. Fiat is publicly traded, the investor might be anyone with 401 or mutual fund investment.

Oh, and you mean these people are not on savvy enough, so the managers run the plant for their own benefit rather than the shareholders' benefit?

For their own benefit??? Do your only see what confirms your world view? No they hired 3 times more people for the money they made. If I had a family in Detroit I would be much happier to have a job that stay unemployed. They are doing the good thing.

Apparently managers are doing a good job - the company was bankrupt all of those people would risk ending up on streets - it's Detroit we're talking about. Instead they turned it over and gave jobs to 3 times more families.

And no not everyone is savvy enough to run a business, some people don't have necessary skills - we all have different talents and aspirations.

Oh, I agree that hiring people and giving them an honest job is a very good thing in general.

I was just highlighting the principal agent problems. Managers like to hire people---because they can build their empire. Influence and status in most companies go up the more people you have reporting to you.

In this case, hiring more people seems to be in the interest of employees, managers and shareholders alike. Remember, selfish does not necessarily mean bad.