stephanie: and mary barra in the drivers seat. how the new general motors ceo makes the glass ceiling. a new book tells the story. welcome to "market makers." i am a pretty excited stephanie ruhle. matt: i am matt miller, in for erik schatzker today. can't describe how refreshed i feel after a week of vacation. there is a lot of interesting news going on. stephanie: here we are, six-year anniversary of the bull run. let's take you to the bulletin the top business stories. the preliminary agreement between greece and its creditors -- surprise, surprise -- is starting to crack. european officials say that greece's latest proposal falls far short of what the country promised two weeks ago. the head of the finance ministers group says that because of that, greece probably will not get any eight minus month. the new greek government is opposed to more austerity measures but it needs more money from europe, someone else are they going to do -- so what else are they going to do? mcdonald's new ceo has got his work cut out for him. i love

in a steel cage matchup of the ages, the latest round goes to gm's mary barra. u.s. giant announcing a $5 billion share buyback. why is that steel cage death match? it shuts down an outspoken activist investor, harry wilson, who's been agitating to get on the board. he's giving up his quest, so she's doing a little bit of that, little bit of this. he goes away. mary barra's latest move will likely please berkshire hathaway's warren buffett who has vocally opposed wilson's board ambitions during his recent shareholder discussion and letter. shares of gm jumping following the news, currently trading up a full dollar. get to mcdonald's, the dow component getting a modern makeover that a lot of shareholders have been agitating for. the fast food giant has vowed to transform itself into a, quote, modern, progressive burger company following its chilly february numbers. same-store sales numbers tanking 4% in the u.s. in light of growing competition from chipotle, click fillet and, of course -- chick-fil-a and, of course, shake shack. shares of mcdonald's trading higher by

building on that momentum from the progress we made in 2014. >> what was interesting listening to mary barraific question from one analyst who said mary everybody agrees that general motors shares are by any measure undervalued relative to what we believe they should be. why is that the case? she did not answer that question. she's not going to get caught in this game of why exactly is your stock not reaching the levels that people believe it should reach? that said she has committed and the gm board has committed that they can make this company operate with a $20 billion cash threshold. above that, they said that they are beginning to be bringing that back to the investors, whether it's through dividend or a stock buyback. david, guys, back to you. >> all right phil thanks very much. the culmination of not that long-running dispute between some shareholders and gms. >> the big event today, apple holding that special event in san francisco today. widely expected to come through with more details on the apple watch. our team is in place. kayla is live outside the theater where tim cook will p

. >>> general motors ceo mary barra will be deposed after a defective ignition switches. testify under oath in october along with other current and former gm employees. in addition to the lit station st litigation could result in a fine. >> house speaker boehner and nancy pelosi close to fixing a long standing problem with medicare. temporary patches override so that physicians don't take a major cut in reimbursements. this deal being hashed out would make a fix permanent. >> i'm encouraged by the progress our committees are making and permanently resolve the so-called doc fix. as you all know we've had to patch these doctor payments 17 times over the last 11 years. i've been committed to finding a permanent solution to this problem. it's a chance to get rid of washington's most infamous budget gimmicks but it's also an opportunity to make structural reforms to medicare and real savings to taxpayers. >> the deal isn't done yet but the april 1st deadline to do something is fast approaching. >>> the government has recovered more than $3 billion from companies and individual

he had the following sto say, i think mary barra is a pretty class act.showed today that they have a compensation scheme tied to allocating capital correctly and creating shareholder value and they made it transparent. i also asked him, why do you think this happened now. he said it happened quickly because they were ready for it. they were on their way to this. we probably accelerated this. my own personal view of this story is maybe that's the most important thing that comes out of this. you get in a way that you never have had before this transparent compensation plan which more and more investors, hedge fund and otherwise are asking for out of corporate america whether it's david winters at coca-cola or some people say we want more information about google's comp plan that at the end of the day maybe this is more important than the five, six -- >> the thing is that the mutual funds are not going to do it. and all these newly minted passive invest sors, they're not going to do this either. it falls to the activist hedge funds who have gotten much more

now if it is more, mary barra made it very clear at gm they will pay whatever it takes, to do the jobright. they have been very cooperative with the fund. and i have no doubt that if it turns out to be more, there will be money from gm to pay it. liz: money from gm to pay it. in the end what was different about this particular experience that you have been through, paying out than all the other major once that you've done as well such as bp? >> how old some of these claims are. we have, we have claims involving accidents that took place over a decade ago. so you don't have the automobile. you don't have the switch. you have to get circumstancal evidence, a police report. photos of the accident. maintenance records. insurance investigative reports. it is very, very difficult, unlike bp or 9/11. it is very difficult to reconstruct accidents that are so old, where the automobile and the black box in the engine are gone. and it is entirely circumstantial evidence type of claim. david: sound like getting record for an irs audit. something i don't, don't advise anybody go through it all. ke

general motors ceo mary barra is expected to be deposed in october in the lawsuit over recalled defectiveitches. the list of people to be deposed in texas also includes at least 35 current and former gm extives. the plaintiffs in this case choose not to pursue or accept settlements. at least 67 people reportdly died in crashes caused by the defective ignition switches. >>> a pilots strike at lufthansa has entered its third day. close to 800 flights are canceled today alone. we have lufthansa haze 180,000 have been affected since the strike began wednesday. >>> europe's budget carrier ryan air backing away from reports. on tuesday the company was quoted as saying they planned to offer cheap flights to and from u.s. cities within the next five years. today, ryan airb says it was a miscommunication. >>> down the hatch, the global liquor giant plans to put alcohol content and nutrition information on the labels of products including johnny walker, smirnoff and guinness. the company hopes that it will help people understand how much they are drinking and reduce the misuse of alcohol. and that'

. >> i know another ceo who you've met with in omaha is mary barra. that you bought a new cadillac.uy that cadillac. we have questions from kyle bass. kyle bass is an investor in general motors. he's been pushing for the company to buy back more shares and increase the dividend. >> put a fellow on the board. >> that is harry wilson. who he's been pushing for that. harry wilson was involved with resetting gm. but he points out that he thinks it's trading at a significant discount to intrinsic value. >> mary's only been in there a short period. there's a lot of things to do. having had to go to the government a few years ago to stay alive, you can go through cash very fast. i don't -- if i were running it would i be buying the stock? i don't know if i would or not. but it doesn't bother me at all when she's not doing it. i think she's exactly the right person for the job. i've met her a couple times and she is very very good. and i think it -- i just think the idea of trying to do something now to get a pop in the stock should not be on her agenda or the shareholders' agenda. i think

stephanie: and mary barra in the d

i think mary barra has handled this well.aid that her goals of giving cash back to shareholders more often, for in a way that was sort of road marked better really combined with his goals of getting back cash quite well. she negotiated with him over the last couple of weeks, and they came to an agreement that they are going to get a $5 billion buyback. they are also doing dividends. alix: what does this say about potential for growth? an oil company says that and you are going to stop exploring. matt: they are going to invest $12 billion in new products. you want them to not stop building the great products they have built since new gm was made, and they seem committed to that, but they are going to hold their bare minimum of cash, $20 billion. alix: from apple to tesla, the top stocks you need to know. ♪ alix: welcome to our viewers around the globe. you are watching bloomberg television. this is "street smart ergo i am with scarlet fu. it is time for the top 10. a yahoo! activist investor applying pressure on the company. i

. >> i appreciate all of that, but as we saw in the case of mary barra, the ceo of gm she was paid lessat's the critical aspect of this study. at every level, whether it's education, race in different industries, women seem to get paid less. yeah, women will offboard they may leave the labor board, come in and receive flexibility over comp. >> how do we accelerate this so the wage balance happens quickly? >> i think when you look at the economics of it and we look at other nations where the wage gap is much nay rower, in other developed nations, what do they have that we don't. they have a robust child care system and a return policy that's much more generous. experts say that's the missing component in the economy. >> that's part of it. that's pure bias. i think employers value men more than women. >> they think their value is greater than a woman's value. i mean there's a wonderful story dee dee myers tells in her extort when she became the first female press secretary for bill clinton. she went in to the chief of staff and asked why she was paid less and the chief of staff said to he

but as we saw even in the case of mary barra, the ceo of gm she was paid less than her predecessor, even this is one of the critical aspects of this study. at every level, whether it's education, whether it's gender -- race in different industries, women seem to get paid less. so, yes, sure women will off board, leave the labor force, come in and choose flexibility over comp. >> how do we accelerate this so the wage balance happens quickly? >> i think when you look at the economics of this we look at other nations where the wage gap is much narrower. in other developed nations, what do they have that we don't? >> they had a robust child care system and maternity leave policy that's much more generous. experts say that's the missing component in the u.s. economy. >> i think that's part of it. i think it's pure bias. i think employers value men more than women. i do. >> they think their value is greater than a woman's value. there's a wonderful story dee dee myers tells in her book. in a democratic administration for bill clinton, a party that claims it's for wage equality. she went into t

. >> interesting, gm warren buffett, praising mary barra yesterday. >> the question, will they, how much shareholders? giving 2.1% of shareholders making noises that they want a larger return. >> i think also you mentioned yesterday, warren buffett not that happy with the way that they want to put people on the board. >> right. which is an issue we've discussed a great deal. stock not doing much of anything on those numbers. >> caught up in it. caught up in the general my asthma. >> autozone talked about depot, pipes busted over the winter go to depot. autozone beats by 60 cents. that's the top s&p gainer. >> the most aggressive buyback of any company in the new york stock exchangen typically done numbers in the last six quarters peep didn't like. not this time. that stock, by the way, up 18 -- it's going to sound nutty -- you should still buy it. >> comp's up 3.6. >> stock's not done. >> a pothole story? >> very well-run company. people go into the zone go into the zone of the stock which is going to take out, i think, 700. wry now it's a sign of the devil, don't worry, don't be put off

. >> and buffett, of course also very much getting behind mary barra as ceo. >> yes. >> let's get toe bond pits. rick, take it away. >> reporter: if you look at all maturities today we're a slight bit -- i mean we're talking one basis point higher on yields than we were friday. look at one day in a two-day of tens pretty much moving sideways. very good activity but sideways nonetheless. february 1st chart, so basically a one-month chart, can you clearly see that. this will be the beginning of the fourth week. so we've had 16 sessions. now, they've been in a closing yield range of 1.96 to 2.14. now, this isn't as tight as like in october, but it's pretty tight indeed. and if we look at a one-month chart of bund yields it's also pretty tight. and of course, the difference is their closing yield range on that chart you see, basically a whisker under 30 basis points up to 38. what defines this is important, isn't how much it's compressed, and it has, but the fact that it's riding an historical all-time yields on a closing basis almost every session. if we look at year to date of the euro

i think i've always had a high regard for mary barra. increased my regard for her.his is not something she normally does or ceos normally do. i think she did a phenomenal job in dealing with these issues. and so i think she as is leader is quite strong. she was building a system around her. she's got a lot of work to do but she's building a system around her that will be successful. that's the fundamental ingredient of how the company navigates unforeseen challenges. >> that's why i was surprised to see you go aggressively activist so quickly. it's been just a over a year since she's been in. she's had all the other problems that landed on her lap she's been in washington for a lot of that time. i was surprised it was made public rather than negotiating behind the scenes. >> i'm glad you asked that. we didn't make it public. the company made it public. we approached the company. we had a filing deadline to nominate a director which was february 9th. we made our submission. we approached the company mid-january. by the time we had a meeting it was february 3rd. >> ky