Fiat's Silent Partners

In most ways, business could not be better for Fiat and its charismatic chairman, Gianni Agnelli. The Italian conglomerate, which manufactures such high-tech equipment as robotics and telecommunications systems, as well as autos and other vehicles, has come roaring back from a string of losses in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fiat's profits increased 113% last year, to a record $884 million on sales of $18 billion. But the company has been unable to escape an increasingly embarrassing problem: about 15% of its stock is owned by Libya, and two representatives from the land of Muammar Gaddafi sit on Fiat's...