Word: knudsen
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...MARJORIE J. KNUDSEN Ludington, Mich...
...TIME'S story "White's Great Hope" [Jan. 1], referring to the job accomplished by S.E. ("Bunkie") Knudsen since his election as chairman and chief executive officer of the White Motor Corp. is timely and well deserved. One inaccuracy, however, demands correction. Although stockholders may hope TIME is prophetic, a reading of current New York Stock Exchange quotations would indicate White's price range, as TIME reported it, was in error...
...banking relations had deteriorated to the point where credit was becoming difficult to raise. He quickly had to arrange a $290 million line of credit, as he says, "just to keep the company afloat." All but a few of White's high executives had left; to replace them, Knudsen recruited from the senior ranks of GM, Chrysler, Ford, Borg Warner, Sperry Rand and W.R. Grace. Then he consolidated the company's many truck lines, which were engaged in a debilitating competition against each other. After selling off Diamond Reo, he pulled together the four remaining lines-Autocar, White...
White's share of the farm-equipment market had fallen from 10% to 4%, partly because the company rarely made model changes. In 1972 Knudsen budgeted almost $17 million in research and development of new tractors, trucks and other machines. He also shook up the company's network of dealers, making each responsible for selling all of White's machines instead of only one line. (The company markets farm equipment under the Minneapolis-Moline, Oliver and Cockshutt nameplates.) Still, says Knudsen, "in marketing and merchandising, the farm-equipment business is just about where the auto industry...
...Under Knudsen, White's stock has jumped from $22 to $71, and his family holdings have increased to $17 million. Not that he needs the gain. In all, Knudsen has a personal net worth estimated at well over $30 million. Why did Bunkie Knudsen, now 60, bother to take the White job? "Hell," he says, "I was too young to retire...