Re: Update to DC Woes

From: JPMUSMC@aol.com
Date: Wed Feb 28 2001 - 18:19:50 EST


Actung! Actung! This information is VERBOTEN!!!!!

In a message dated Wed, 28 Feb 2001 4:20:55 PM Eastern Standard Time, Stlaurent Mr Steven <STLAURENTS@mctssa.usmc.mil> writes:

<< Its culture, ownership and profits mostly
                   German

                   February 28, 2001

                   BY JAMIE BUTTERS
                   and JEFFREY McCRACKEN
                   DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITERS

                   STUTTGART, Germany -- DaimlerChrysler AG
                   Chairman Juergen Schrempp, deeply tanned and
                   wearing a dark suit, strode calmly toward the stage
                   Monday while techno music thumped and a gigantic
                   screen showed clips of the company's triumphs in
                   2000.

                   But it wasn't a day for triumphs.

                   Earnings are down. The company's stock is down.
                   And members of the media kept asking Europe's
                   most prominent business leader if his job was on the
                   line.

                   "Why are you asking me?" he responded with
                   disgust.

                   No one sentences himself to only one last chance,
                   he said in German.

                   Everything he said was in German.

                   For the first time since Chrysler Corp. merged with
                   Germany's Daimler-Benz AG, the six men who run
                   the company and sit under the shiny white panels of
                   DaimlerChrysler's Event Center were all Germans,
                   speaking German.

                   It was all instantly translated into six or seven
                   languages, but it emphasized what Chrysler Group
                   workers in the United States have known for a long
                   time: This is a German company. Mostly owned by
                   Germans and run by Germans. And it is German
                   profits that are keeping the company in the black
                   these days.

                   It didn't start out that way.

                   When the companies combined in 1998 in a
                   $36-billion deal that created the world's fifth-largest
                   automaker, American shareholders were the biggest
                   owners of the conglomerate.

                   Although much smaller in size than its German
                   partner, Chrysler would provide just more than half
                   of the merged company's profits in its first full year.

                   Officials stressed the company would have dual
                   headquarters in Stuttgart and Auburn Hills and
                   English was declared the official language of the
                   company. Not any English dialect, either. American
                   English. Schrempp created a stir in Stuttgart when
                   he mandated that all company memos, letterhead
                   and interoffice mail use American-style English, as
                   opposed to British-style English -- no "colour" or
                   "centre."

                   All of the semiannual meetings and two annual
                   shareholder meetings since the merger were
                   conducted in English. And there were American
                   officials on the dais.

                   Chrysler Group spokespeople said conducting
                   Monday's semiannual business meeting in German
                   was just a matter of convenience.

                   "It was in Germany and a majority of those attending
                   were German," said Jodi Tinson. English remains the
                   company's official language."

                   Nevertheless, the use of German and the makeup of
                   the company's top brass reflect the fundamental shift
                   that has occurred at the company.

                   At the time of the merger, U.S. investors -- mainly
                   mutual funds, pensions and individuals -- owned 44
                   percent of DaimlerChrysler's stock, compared to 40
                   percent by German investors.

                   Shortly after the merger, however Standard &
                   Poor's in New York dropped DaimlerChrysler
                   from its S&P 500 index of 500 widely held U.S.
                   companies. Its reason: DaimlerChrysler was a
                   German company.

                   The company was incorporated in Germany and the
                   majority of its employees were located outside the
                   United States.

                   Within months, U.S.-based mutual funds and
                   pensions that purchased S&P 500 stocks dropped
                   DaimlerChrysler. By March 1999, U.S. investors
                   owned just 25 percent of DaimlerChrysler. German
                   investors, meanwhile, controlled 60 percent of the
                   company.

                   Today, the percentage of U.S. ownership is down
                   to 17 percent. The company doesn't have a figure
                   for German ownership, but European ownership is
                   at 75 percent and most of that is figured to be
                   German.

                   In 1999, profits were mostly from the United States
                   as well.

                   Adjusted operating profits in 1999 for the Chrysler
                   Group were $5.22 billion. For the rest of
                   DaimlerChrysler -- including Mercedes-Benz,
                   Freightliner commercial truck division, aerospace
                   operations and financial services -- operating profits
                   were $5.1 billion.

                   In other words, Chrysler provided more than half
                   the company's profits.

                   The financial picture for 2000, detailed Monday,
                   was vastly different.

                   Chrysler Group profits were a relatively paltry $470
                   million, while the rest of the DaimlerChrysler's
                   businesses made $8.7 billion.

                   Chrysler provided roughly 5 percent of the German
                   company's profits, even though it comprises 42
                   percent of the company's sales.

                   At the time of the merger, a group of German
                   stockholders fought the merger because they
                   believed that the old Daimler-Benz would lose its
                   German identity. They were especially upset
                   because English would become the merged
                   company's language.

                   Germans might use the word "fehler." Americans
                   would use a different word: "irony."

                   Contact JEFFREY McCRACKEN at
                   313-222-8763 or mccracken@freepress.com.

--------------------------------------
Steven St.Laurent
Test Engineer
Test Branch, GSD, MCTSSA
MARCORSYSCOM, USMC
(Work) 760-725-2506 (DSN: 365)
(Work) mailto:stlaurents@mctssa.usmc.mil
(Home) mailto:saint1958@home.com
"In fact, my work has already proven
itself to be correct. People such
as you just haven't gotten it yet.
(unknown author)

-----Original Message-----
From: H62300@aol.com [mailto:H62300@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2001 12:54 PM
To: dakota-truck@buffnet.net
Subject: Re: DML: Earthquake - Major - Seattle

    Damage at the airport, various bldgs damaged, mud slides, smashed cars.
There may be some injuries and maybe
a collapsed elevator at the Olympia hotel in Olympia. People missing and
damaged highways. Looks like overall things are not
 too bad. We just go on here.

                     Brian in Seattle
>>



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