Word: daimler
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What is being highly acclaimed as a "merger" between Daimler-Benz and Chrysler [BUSINESS, May 18] is far more ominous. A close look reveals the disturbing truth. The new company will be incorporated in Germany. After a three-year transition period of co-chairmanship, a single chairman will take charge of the company. That chairman, you can wager, will come from Daimler-Benz. In short, Chrysler has been "bought" by Daimler-Benz. As a result, another great name in America's manufacturing history will gradually fade into oblivion. With only two American auto manufacturers left, we are at risk...
...line of the DOJ's lawsuit against Microsoft asks "that the plaintiff recover the costs of this action" -- in other words, that Bill Gates cough up for Klein's legal fees. But the AAG's point is well taken: When billion-dollar corporate lovefests like Travelers Group-Citicorp and Daimler Benz-Chrysler seem to take place every other day, and the responsible watchdog's budget has not been adjusted for inflation since 1993, it's time to pass the hat. Still, as anyone who has tried to navigate www.usdoj.gov/atr knows, the first thing Klein needs is a new webmaster...
...Daimler-Benz, on the other hand, is considered conservative even by the Germans--an aristocrat in a double-breasted suit, haughtily dismissive of anyone who suggests cutting corners on quality for anything so ephemeral as profit. Says German car-magazine editor Wolfgang Konig: "Perfectionism is at home at Daimler. I get the feeling sometimes it was invented there...
Like most big German firms, Daimler has been content with profit margins of 2% or less (VW gets 1.2%), vs. Chrysler's 6.5% margin last year. One look at the numbers reveals volumes about the culture gap: last year Chrysler earned $2.8 billion producing 2.88 million vehicles with 121,000 workers, while Daimler-Benz earned $1.78 billion making 1.13 million vehicles on a payroll of 300,000. "Such a difference can lead to real conflicts in investments," warns one German auto executive...
...years, might be the kind of Mercedes executive who can bridge that gap and make this marriage work. A former apprentice mechanic, he arrived in Stuttgart in 1987 and made--and later unmade--an ill-fated deal with Dutch aerospace firm Fokker. He also did a stint at a Daimler division in Cleveland, Ohio. When Daimler fell deep in the red in the mid-'90s, he embarked on a series of American-style cost-cutting programs that reduced the work force by some 20,000 and the number of operating businesses from 35 to 23, earning himself the nickname "Neutron...