AMG
30-04-2004, 10:02 AM
In a shock move DaimlerChrysler's supervisory board will meet in New York on Thursday to study a resignation offer by its chief executive Juergen Schrempp.
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said Schrempp had offered to resign during a board meeting last Thursday following the group's shock decision not to pump any more cash into its troubled Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motors (MMC).
The board had then decided to postpone a decision until an extraordinary meeting on Thursday in New York, the newspaper said.
DaimlerChrysler on Monday described as "absurd" rumours that Schrempp was set to step down.
With DaimlerChrysler's other key Asian alliance with South Korea's Hyundai also apparently on the rocks, and its US unit Chrysler still a source of serious concern, the German-US car manufacturer has failed to reach Schrempp's long-cherished goal of achieving a leading market position in all key regions of the world.
Lambasted at this month's annual meeting in Berlin by shareholders who blamed Schrempp's aggressive expansion strategy for the dizzying fall in the group's share price over the past few years, the chairman insisted he had done nothing wrong.
MMC announced in Tokyo on Monday that its president and chief executive officer Rolf Eckrodt, was stepping down with immediate effect.
Eckrodt, a former DaimlerChrysler executive, was appointed head of MMC in June 2002.
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said Schrempp had offered to resign during a board meeting last Thursday following the group's shock decision not to pump any more cash into its troubled Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motors (MMC).
The board had then decided to postpone a decision until an extraordinary meeting on Thursday in New York, the newspaper said.
DaimlerChrysler on Monday described as "absurd" rumours that Schrempp was set to step down.
With DaimlerChrysler's other key Asian alliance with South Korea's Hyundai also apparently on the rocks, and its US unit Chrysler still a source of serious concern, the German-US car manufacturer has failed to reach Schrempp's long-cherished goal of achieving a leading market position in all key regions of the world.
Lambasted at this month's annual meeting in Berlin by shareholders who blamed Schrempp's aggressive expansion strategy for the dizzying fall in the group's share price over the past few years, the chairman insisted he had done nothing wrong.
MMC announced in Tokyo on Monday that its president and chief executive officer Rolf Eckrodt, was stepping down with immediate effect.
Eckrodt, a former DaimlerChrysler executive, was appointed head of MMC in June 2002.