we'll keep following your story. >> thank you. >> maurice taylor joining us. developments in the herbalife story. now to scott wapner. >> reporter: cnbc has learned one of the future of herbalife's biggest distributors is in question and could lead to the individual cutting ties with the company completely. on february 14th herbalife de-listed or severed ties with a vendor responsible for the sale of business leads and sales tools to distributors. cnbc has learned that the salesmen in question has had a relationship with the de-listed vendor. herbalife said it tightened its rules regarding sales generation leads. that's the way certain distributors, especially the very larkest ones, look for business on the internet. the changes were apparently made by the company to be more transparent and to deal with the long-standing controversy over how sales leads are made. we've also learned that the individual in question is a top tier salesman, a so-called chairman's club meng member of which herbalife has 49. all of this has been described by one person familiar with

do you think maurice taylor is speaking the truth? >> there's a lot of truth in what he is saying.hey are certainly entitled and he is right in his list what they feel in title to like short days, six weeks mandatory vacation and all of this paid for by employers. the drama of all this is this wouldn't happen and he is right, the unions are behind this, enforced by the government who passed those crazy laws where you don't have to work as much. stuart: charles payne is with me and he has done some research -- maurice taylor was going to have a look at it and see if he wanted to take over. give me some stats on the plant. charles: good year ran this plan, sprawling, 54 years old, has the capacity to do six billion units a year last year 1.3 million units. in the fourth quarter, seventy-four million dollars, last year the loss $230 million and in this plant alone they can't do it anymore, they can't do it anymore, all because of the things we talk about on this show every single day. stuart: come back into this. i want to know what was the reaction in france when mr. taylor's letter

here, maurice taylor says i will drive michelin out of business. if i'm going to the government. >> a clothing line called rain, heat and snow. so kayla, a jacket for you for chance? >> i'm thinking probably no. if this is an attempt tocate toert younger class to make the post office relevant again, ininstead of doing something like releasing a clothing line, invest in technology to send packages for efficiently. that's what i don't understand. >> i think you are being a bit harsh there, kay la. i think working men and women blue collar. only thing i would say is under armour is more likely to succeed about that. >> i think hipsters would definitely buy it. >> maybe. if you live under the williamsburg bridge, maybe. >>> the tech titan launching this video of how users could potentially see the world wearing the google glasses. they are not on sale yet but go go g gool /* /- goolg el wants -- google wants testers. would you wear these? >> well, with flares and beats by dr. dre, who knew. >> kayla, google glasses for your future? >> well, full disclo

jeff tweeted that titans ceo maurice taylor should build his plant in the u.s., anyway, not abrood. john says the u.s. has the hardest workers. they're dedicated and loyal. you know, we try. >>> keep the responses coming. e-mail us or tweet us. >>> the final act of the bumi saga on nat rothschild defeated. despite a pretty public war of words today, nick von shernling said he's keen to put the past behind him. >> i would say to matt and those shareholders, please, come behind us and support us. we have to get through this. otherwise, i'm not sure where we go. we're on the cusp of that and we can have a very exciting prospect in the next few months with a clear strategy and fresh board. >>> citigroup is bowing to shareholder pressure. the bank has overhauled its investor pay plan. citi will now better tie annual bonuses to performance and profitability and this news comes as the company has disclosed the new ceo michael corbatt was paid $1 1 million fr his work last year. take a look at citi shares, not moving much on a day when the xetra dax is up by 0.8%. >>> heinz's third quarter

maurice taylor went into france looking at this very plant last year and they were wanting to do a deal they were seeking the opportunity at least facilitate a deal. the union for that plant, it's not only, well, union, they are communist. >> megyn: french union. >> communist workers and big time anti-well, anti-american. >> megyn: anti-work? >> and they-- >> according to what he said. i would never suggest said. >> megyn: that's what he said. >> and french have michelin. >> megyn: very successful company. >> very successful four of them at least on my car. but the fact is, this guy taylor has got it right. i mean, he is talking to a communist union in the european union in france, and you know, guess what? the french still may be a little smarter than we're giving credit for because their unionization rate is down to 7.6%. >> megyn: wow. >> ours is sitting at 11.3. so, it's not quite the, you know, it's not quite as simple as it first looks. they're not, as taylor asked how stupid do they think we are? they're going to try, but they may be smarter than us when it comes to union partici

state department is trying to play down the conflict between the ceo of tighten international, maurice taylord the french government, calling a private matter. we talked about this last night. the exchange erupted after the french government leaked a letter written by mr. taylor in which she describes workers at the french tire plant he was considering buying sleazy. in case you missed it yesterday, here is what he told me about the atmosphere of the french plant. >> you walk-in. they get in now or for their lunch in their brakes. they work about three hours and then the other three, it's like a beauty shop. they're socializing. the reason being, they would like you -- the union thinks she should hire more people. i mean, that's the unions mentality. then what happens is appearances they're closing the plant. i have nothing. so they're not they will close it. the french minister, i will call up this tighten and have them come. i spent four years over there talking with these fools. and so he kept pounding. he thought that he would leave this out, that he could take the american, a foreigner,

maurice taylor on the phone with us right now. you're on fire, young man.e than you bargained for. >> i am a little bit older than you. i appreciate the unmanned comment. neil: you knew you would get this reaction because i think you're pretty savvy what you do. you knew you would hit the french all stirred up which is exactly what happened. now some people fear that it's going to a bummer in your business. >> no. the whole thing is that the french minister pool, trying toe this. finally one a spent a year negotiating with could your. i guess they're communists. anyhow the turnaround and, hell, they sued us begin. then when we negotiated with them it was real simple. we were talking about wages and nothing. and and be the close of the cit. i said to him, you mean i'm going to spend tens of millions of dollars and you think it'll be closed in two years to make your stupid. the and the fifth rate are -- t. they don't get the credit for trying set look after employees, and these are the highest-paid workers over there. neil: wait a minute. did you actually say

the "wall street journal" reports maurice taylor sent a scathing letter to a french industry ministryding to a request that titan look into buying a shuttered tire plant in france. he wrote sir, your letter states that you want titan to start a discussion. how stupid do you think we are? he goes on to say the french workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. they get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. we called titan for a comment but haven't received a response yet. the website says maurice taylor is nicknamed the grizz for his tough negotiating style. >>> the one thing you need to know about your money today, 10%, that's the amount the long-term unemployed could lose from their weekly jobless benefits if congress doesn't avoid the spending cuts which begin march 1st. it applies to the emergency federal benefits congress has been authorizing since 2008. it adds up to about $400 through the end of the fiscal year. so the long-term unemployed among those who would feel those forced spending cuts if congress doesn't act. >>> it is 25 minute

>> and plenty the last word because after remind everybody, going to talk to the man himself, maurice taylornternational on her show coming up at 6:00 p.m. no, i love it because of coffee.

he's maurice taylor. he was on "closing bell" earlier today. >> what i said was true. admitted it. they laughed about it, okay. that's where this union president, this michael, i call him spike because he's got his hair all up in a deal, and they are devout commies and said it's the french way, you have to do the french way. i said i'm not going to do it if it loses money and that's what you'll always do. >> very strong words, larry, from mr. taylor. >> did he just call him a commie. >> he did. do you know he ran for president in 1996 and i'm won'ting is this his work, laying the ground work for 2016. he's from chicago. so i was reading up on that. >> i remember that. >> there wasn't a lot of support for him but maybe with that kind of rhetoric he'll -- >> whoa. that comment commies. could i ask you a question. mary was talking about immigration. good news story late in the day. business groups including the chamber of commerce and some unions are coming together and give the illegals work permits. for the first time. work permits. now businesses always wanted that. un

here with his side of the story, maurice taylor, ceo of tight international. mr. taylor.ith us. we really appreciate your time. i know it has been a whirlwind. i want you to respond to some of this criticism. i will read a comment from the french industry minister. he was pretty hard on you. he said, your comments which are as extreme as they're insulting reflect a total ignorance of our country. can i remind you that titan, the company you head, is 20 times smaller than michelin, the french technology leader with a global reach and 35 times more profitable. that shows the extent that titan could have learned and gained enormously from a french base. how do you respond? >> well, the minister should do his homework because michelin has been closing factories. they are investing a billion dollars in the u.s., and, you know, he can't be living in the past, and he is. member to, he leaked the letter. the whole thing, exactly what you said about the -- what the french workers said is what they said to me when we did the interview. and i did it with ten unions. that is what is

. >>> listen to this, from the ceo of titan, a french official sent a letter to maurice taylor to seehe'd be interested in taking over the french tire factory. gets paid high wages but works only three hours, one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three, and work for three. taylor says titan will buy a factory in india and china and pay the workers a lot less. nice work if you can get it. >> nice work if you can get it. have you ever heard of anything as ridiculous as what kayla just not made up, reported factually about french non-work habits. >> we've heard for years about the ever shrinking french workweek. this is a country that elected a president thought there was nothing wrong with having the top tax rate be 72% clearly punishing work and productivity. so sadly it's not surprising and it's much to be -- >> if you pay them not to work, jared, this is my worry about your administration. if you pay them not to work, they won't work. >> i'm sorry to bring some numbers and facts to the discussion as opposed to these anecdotes, but french productivity levels, not the growth rates, t

maurice taylor. union workers this to their faces and they told me that is the french way. i am sure our next guest has more on that. gerri willis, host of "the willis report." gerri: the ceos nickname is the griz. he is the minister of transforming ministry. they know they have a problem over there. they are trying to fix it. here are the other things that he said. he is like, there is no way i am buying this. forget about it. how stupid do you think we are? left right and center, this is a plant that goodyear ran for years until they just finally could not get people to work there. shibani: they are enhancing u.s. relations on top of that. ashley: there is almost a little bit of pride there. compare that to the german workers who are incredibly hard-working. gerri: generation after generation passing down. not in france. i think he is worried about the u.s. government having some of the same problems. let me tell you, though, the french bashed back. extreme insulting was the reaction to what taylor

maurice taylor from titan international, here is the already he wrote to the french government after france. >> the french force works three hours. one hour for break and lunch and talk, and work for three hours. i told the french union workers to their faces and they told me that's the french way. and any comments? you're laughing. >> well, the answer to that, it's just absolutely ridiculous, thee hours a day they work? and what can you say? >> what can you say? i think we've said enough. thank you very much indeed. by the way, i'll have more on this, on the french outrage and american honesty coming up at 10:25 this morning's program. take a look at ford. ford motor company, please. announcing this morning that it plans to invest 6.2 billion dollars in u.s. plants by the year 2015. so, joining us now is joe h henricks, ford's president of the americas. >> good morning. stuart: we get to the investment in america. i have to ask you this, you guys are going to get hit with higher gas prices and lower paychecks, aren't you? >> well, the automotive consumer's been pretty resilient last

"the wall street journal" reports maurice taylor of titan international sent a scathing letter earlieras responding to a request from france that titan consider buying a shuttered tire in france. "he french workforce gets paid high wages, but works only three hours. they get one hour for breaks and lunch and talk for three and work for three." we'll talk to him for his tough negotiating style and in this particular situation, very, very honest about his feelings about buying a french tire company. >> tough commentary about the companies he's looking at. christine thank you. >>> here's a look at what's trending on cnn. if you were planning to seeshy shia labeouf in his broadway debut, you can cancel that. he quit. he didn't elaborate on the reasons but been posting e-mails on his twitter account between him and the director and co-star alec baldwin that gives an indication of a lot of drama behind the scenes, so one can just guess that that's probably why he's leaving. >>> marguerite joseph of gross point shores in michigan doesn't want to lie about her age but facebook is forcing her t

maurice writing a letter. gerri willis spoke to mr. taylor last night. give us the highlights.ould be, as ceos often do, backpedaling. the ceo called the french fools for the way they treated him. he was it -- he was angry about it. he said they were using it for their own personal, political reasons. he told us that, you know, his estimation of french workers, he would not back off of that. >> they announced they will close it. the french minister, i spent four years over there talking with these fools. he kept pounding. he thought that he would leak this out. that he could take the americans, the foreigner and my comments about the work which was true. he would twist it and that you know, get some heat off. if the fool did anything, he would know that i have a history of not walking away from any battle. gerri: i asked him what it was like inside these factories. was it all about getting the work done? he said, no, it was like a beauty shot. >> what benefit does the french government get from releasing that letter? >> it was a distraction from the other bad news that they had