company name | Daimler AG |
---|---|
company logo | |
company type | Aktiengesellschaft |
traded as | |
foundation | 1886 |
location | Stuttgart, Germany |
key people | Dieter Zetsche (CEO and Chairman of the management board), Manfred Bischoff (Chairman of the supervisory board) |
industry | Automotive industry |
products | Automobiles, commercial vehicles (list of brands...) |
area served | Worldwide |
revenue | €97.76 billion (2010) |
operating income | €7.274 billion (2010) |
net income | €4.498 billion (2010) |
assets | €135.83 billion (end 2010) |
equity | €37.95 billion (end 2010) |
num employees | 260,100 (end 2010) |
homepage | daimler.com |
intl | yes }} |
Daimler AG (; formerly DaimlerChrysler) is a German car corporation. By unit sales, it is the thirteenth-largest car manufacturer and second-largest truck manufacturer in the world. In addition to automobiles, Daimler manufactures buses and provides financial services through its Daimler Financial Services arm. The company also owns major stakes in aerospace group EADS, high-technology and parent company of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes racing team McLaren Group (which currently is in the process of becoming a fully independent stand-alone corporate entity), and Japanese truck maker Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation.
DaimlerChrysler was founded (1998–2007) when Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler-Benz (1926–1998) of Stuttgart, Germany merged with the US-based Chrysler Corporation in 1998. The deal created a new entity, DaimlerChrysler. However, the buyout failed to produce the trans-Atlantic automotive powerhouse dealmakers had hoped for, and DaimlerChrysler announced on May 14, 2007 that it would sell Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management of New York, a private equity firm that specializes in restructuring troubled companies. On October 4, 2007 a DaimlerChrysler Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting approved the renaming of the company. From October 5, 2007, the company has been titled Daimler AG. The US company adopted the name ''Chrysler LLC'' when the sale completed on August 3, 2007.
Daimler produces cars and trucks under the brands of Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Smart, Freightliner and many others.
An ''Agreement of Mutual Interest'' was signed on May 1, 1924 between Benz & Cie (founded 1883) of Karl Benz and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft (founded 1890) of Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach.
Both companies continued to manufacture their separate automobile and internal combustion engine brands until, on June 28, 1926, when Benz & Cie. and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft AG formally merged—becoming Daimler-Benz AG—and agreed that thereafter, all of the factories would use the brand name of Mercedes-Benz on their automobiles.
In 1998 Daimler-Benz AG "merged" with the American automobile manufacturer Chrysler Corporation, and formed DaimlerChrysler AG. The group allowed Daimler-Benz's non-automotive businesses such as Daimler-Benz InterServices AG (Debis) (created in 1989 to handle data processing, financial and insurance services, and real estate management for the Daimler group) to continue to pursue their respective strategies of expansion. Debis reported revenues of $ 8.6 bn (DM 15.5 bn) in 1997.
In 2007, when the Chrysler group was sold off to Cerberus Capital Management, the name of the parent company was changed to simply "Daimler AG".
Chrysler reported losses of US$1.5 billion in 2006. It then announced plans to lay off 13,000 employees in mid-February 2007, close a major assembly plant and reduce production at other plants in order to restore profitability by 2008.
The merger was contentious with investors launching lawsuits over whether the transaction was the 'merger of equals' that senior management claimed or actually amounted to a Daimler-Benz takeover of Chrysler. A class action investor lawsuit was settled in August 2003 for US$300 million while a suit by billionaire investor activist Kirk Kerkorian was dismissed on April 7, 2005. The transaction claimed the job of its architect, Chairman Jürgen E. Schrempp, who resigned at the end of 2005 in response to the fall of the company's share price following the transaction. The merger was also the subject of a book ''Taken for a Ride: How Daimler-Benz Drove Off With Chrysler'', (2000) by Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz.
Another issue of contention is whether the merger delivered promised synergies and successfully integrated the two businesses. As late as 2002, DaimlerChrysler appeared to run two independent product lines. Later that year, the company launched products that appear to integrate elements from both sides of the company, including the Chrysler Crossfire, which was based on the Mercedes SLK platform and utilized Mercedes's 3.2L V6, and the Dodge Sprinter/Freightliner Sprinter, a re-badged Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van. The fourth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee is based on the Mercedes-Benz M-Class despite the fact it had been nearly four years after the Daimler/Chrysler split.
On August 3, 2007, DaimlerChrysler completed the sale of Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management. The original agreement stated that Cerberus would take an 80.1 percent stake in the new company, Chrysler Holding LLC. DaimlerChrysler changed its name to Daimler AG and retained the remaining 19.9% stake in the separated Chrysler.
The terms saw Daimler pay Cerberus US$650 million to take Chrysler and associated liabilities off its hands. This is a remarkable reverse in fortunes on the US$36 billion paid to acquire Chrysler in 1998. Of the US$7.4 billion purchase price, Cerberus Capital Management will invest US$5 billion in Chrysler Holdings and US$1.05 billion in Chrysler’s financial unit. The de-merged Daimler AG received US$1.35 billion directly from Cerberus but directly invested US$2 billion in Chrysler itself.
Since Chrysler's 2009 bankruptcy filing in the United States, Chrysler has been controlled by Italian automaker Fiat, which unlike Daimler plans to integrate Chrysler's products into the Fiat portfolio, most notably Lancia and Chrysler's namesake brand.
Current members of the Board of Management of Daimler AG are:
Current members of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG are: Heinrich Flegel, Juergen Hambrecht, Thomas Klebe, Erich Klemm, Arnaud Lagardère, Jürgen Langer, Helmut Lense, Sari Baldauf, William Owens, Ansgar Osseforth, Valter Sanches, Manfred Schneider, Stefan Schwaab, Bernhard Walter, Lynton Wilson, Mark Wössner, Manfred Bischoff, Clemens Börsig and Uwe Werner. Dr Manfred Bischoff serves as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Daimler AG and Erich Klemm as Vice-Chairman.
''by Region''
Additionally, Louis J. Freeh, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will serve as an independent monitor to oversee Daimler’s compliance with anti-bribery laws.
U.S. prosecutors accused key executives of Daimler, Daimler subsidiaries, and Daimler affiliates of illegally giving foreign officials money and gifts between 1998 and 2008 to secure government contracts around the world. The investigation for the case revealed that Daimler improperly paid some $56 million in bribes related to more than 200 transactions in at least 22 countries (including China, Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Greece, Latvia, Serbia and Montenegro, Egypt and Nigeria, among other places) that, in return, awarded the company $1.9 billion in revenue and at least $91.4 million in illegal profits.
The SEC case was sparked in 2004 after David Bazzetta, a former auditor at then DaimlerChrysler Corp, filed a whistleblower complaint after he was fired for raising questions about bank accounts controlled by Mercedes-Benz units in South America. Bazzetta alleged that he learned in a July 2001 corporate audit executive committee meeting in Stuttgart that business units "continued to maintain secret bank accounts to bribe foreign government officials," though the company knew the practice violated U.S. laws.
In another attempt to silence Bazzetta, Daimler later offered to settle his termination of employment suit out of court and he eventually accepted a settlement. But Daimler's strategy with Bazzetta proved to be a failure as the U.S. criminal investigation for violating anti-bribery laws was already underway in what is one of the most wide-ranging cases brought against a foreign corporation.
According to the charges, the bribes were frequently made by over-invoicing customers and paying the excess back to top government officials or their proxies. The bribes also took the form of luxury European vacations, armored Mercedes vehicles for high-ranking government officials and a birthday gift to a senior Turkmenistan official including a golden box and 10,000 copies of the official's personal manifesto translated into German.
Investigators also found that the firm violated the terms of the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Programme with Iraq by giving kickbacks worth 10% of the contract values to officials within the Iraqi government, then led by Saddam Hussein. The SEC said the company made more than $4 million from the sale of vehicles and spare parts in the corrupt Oil-for-Food deals.
U.S. prosecutors further alleged that some bribes were paid through shell companies based in the U.S. "In some cases Daimler wired these improper payments to U.S. bank accounts or to the foreign bank accounts of U.S. shell companies in order to transmit the bribe," the court papers said.
Prosecutors said that Daimler engaged in a "long-standing practice" of paying bribes, due in part to a corporate culture that encouraged the practice.
"Using offshore bank accounts, third-party agents and deceptive pricing practices, these companies [Daimler AG, its subsidiaries and affiliates] saw foreign bribery as a way of doing business," said Mythili Raman, a principal deputy in the Justice Department’s criminal division.
"It is no exaggeration to describe corruption and bribe-paying at Daimler as a standard business practice," Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a statement.
"We have learned a lot from past experience," Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler's board, said in a statement.
As per the agreement with prosecutors, the two Daimler subsidiaries admitted to knowingly violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies and their officials from paying bribes to foreign officials to win business. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act applies to any company that lists its shares on U.S. stock exchanges. Daimler AG was listed with the symbol "DAI" on the NYSE, giving the Justice Department jurisdiction over the German car maker's payments in countries around the globe.
Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington, D.C., approved the plea agreement and settlement, calling it a "just resolution."
The primary case is USA v. Daimler AG, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 10-00063.
Mercedes-Benz is launching its first passenger car model equipped with a hybrid drive system in summer 2009, the Mercedes-Benz S 400 HYBRID.
Daimler Trucks is the world market leader in hybrid systems. With its “Shaping Future Transportation” initiative, Daimler is pursuing a clear-cut objective for trucks and buses. The Mitsubishi Fuso “Aero Star Eco Hybrid” is now setting new standards in practical trials in Japan.
Category:Companies established in 1883 Category:Companies based in Stuttgart Category:German brands Category:Motor vehicle manufacturers of Germany Category:Bus manufacturers Category:Car manufacturers of Germany * Category:Companies established in 2007 Category:Multinational companies headquartered in Germany Category:Aabar Investments
ar:دايملر كرايسلر bs:Daimler AG bg:Даймлер cs:Daimler AG da:DaimlerChrysler de:Daimler AG el:Daimler es:Daimler AG eo:Daimler AG fa:دایملر آ گ fr:Daimler (entreprise) ko:다임러 AG hi:डेमलर एजी hr:Daimler AG id:DaimlerChrysler is:Daimler it:Daimler (azienda) he:דיימלר-קרייזלר la:DaimlerChrysler lt:Daimler AG mr:डाईमलर आ.गे. nl:Daimler (Duitsland) ja:ダイムラー (自動車メーカー) no:Daimler AG nn:Daimler AG pl:Daimler AG pt:Daimler AG ro:Daimler AG ru:Daimler sco:Daimler AG fi:Daimler sv:Daimler AG te:డైమ్లెర్క్రిస్లెర్ tr:Daimler AG uk:Daimler vi:Daimler AG yo:Daimler AG zh:戴姆勒This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Dieter Zetsche |
---|---|
birth date | May 05, 1953 |
birth place | Istanbul, Turkey |
residence | Stuttgart |
nationality | German |
ethnicity | German |
alma mater | University of Karlsruhe, University of Paderborn |
occupation | Engineer, Businessman Chairman of Daimler AG (2006-) |
predecessor | Jürgen E. Schrempp (as Chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG) |
spouse | Gisele Zetsche (m. 1982) |
children | 3; 1 daughter |
parents | Herbert Zetsche }} |
Dieter Zetsche (born on May 5, 1953 in Istanbul, Turkey) is a German businessman and the Chairman of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars since 2006 as well as member of the company's Board of Management since 1998.
He was born while his father, Herbert Zetsche, a civil engineer, was temporarily in Turkey for a dam construction project. The family returned to Germany in 1956. Dieter Zetsche attended school in Oberursel (near Frankfurt am Main) and studied electrical engineering from 1971 to 1976 at the University of Karlsruhe; he graduated as an engineer.
He joined Daimler-Benz in 1976, working in the research department. In 1981, he became Assistant Development Manager at the Vehicles business unit. He completed his doctorate in engineering in 1982 at the University of Paderborn.
He became a member of the DaimlerChrysler's Board of Management in 1998 and served the President/CEO of Chrysler Group from mid of 2000 to December 31, 2005, where he was credited with a turnaround of DCX's American operations. Since January 1, 2006, he succeeded Jürgen Schrempp as Chairman of DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler AG), being succeeded in the position of Chrysler Group CEO by Thomas W. LaSorda.
He was the main influence behind the demerger of Daimler and Chrysler in 2007, which ended in the newly formed Daimler AG.
Dieter Zetsche is credited with bringing significant core changes to the Mercedes-Benz company in an effort to turn around a decade long downward spiral in product quality and customer satisfaction. He was named in ''Time Magazine'''s 2006's list of 100 most influential people.
The "Ask Dr. Z" campaign included television, radio, print, online, in-dealership and customer relationship marketing media components and aggressive marketing tactics (mobile billboards, aerial banners, street teams), as well as targeting the NASCAR fan community. In the "Ask Dr. Z" ad campaign he provides answers to customers' questions and exits by saying "Auf Wiedersehen" (German for "See you later").
The ad campaign emphasized the consumer benefits of the best of American and German engineering and design built into every Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicle. One included Zetsche riding in a Jeep Liberty crossing a pile of logs, another showed him at the trunk of a Dodge Caravan minivan heading a soccer ball, and the last showed him at the wheel of a Chrysler Pacifica when it undergoes a crash test where he emerges from the wreckage unscathed.
As a response of shrinking sales, the Employee Pricing Plus program was extended through the end of August, 3 new TV ads, which did not feature Dr. Z, were added to the August campaign. After 3 months however DaimlerChrysler hurriedly withdrew the Dr. Z campaign due to a significant loss in market-share. However, some of the Dr. Z ads can still be seen in Canadian television. In later broadcasts, the tagline in Dr. Z TV ads was changed to 'See the best in German and North American design in your Dodge and Chrysler dealer.'
The campaign was criticized for having a wrong guy to do funny ads. CNW Marketing Research poll showed most people thought Dr. Z was a fictional character, did not notice the employee discount offer in the ads and radio commercial listeners had a difficulty understanding his German accent.
Category:1953 births Category:Daimler AG Category:DaimlerChrysler Category:German businesspeople Category:Living people Category:People from Istanbul
de:Dieter Zetsche fr:Dieter Zetsche la:Theodoricus Zetsche lt:Dieter Zetsche pt:Dieter Zetsche ru:Цетше, Дитер sv:Dieter ZetscheThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Region | Western philosophy |
---|---|
Era | Contemporary |
Color | lightsteelblue |
Name | Jeremy Rifkin |
Birth date | January 26, 1945 |
Birth place | Denver, Colorado |
Main interests | Economy, political science, scientific and technological change |
Notable ideas | Empathic Civilization, The Third Industrial Revolution, End of the working society |
Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania; Tufts University |
Signature | }} |
In 1973, Mr. Rifkin organized a mass-protest against oil companies at the commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party at Boston's Harbor. Thousands joined the protest, as activists dumped empty oil barrels into Boston's Harbor. The protest came in the wake of the increase in gasoline prices in the fall of 1972, following the OPEC oil embargo-
In 1977, with Ted Howard, he founded the Foundation on Economic Trends; he currently works out of an office in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C.The Foundation on Economic Trends (FOET), is active in both national and international public policy issues related to the environment, the economy, and climate change. FOET examines new trends and their impacts on the environment, the economy, culture and society, and engages in litigation, public education, coalition building and grassroots organizing activities to advance their goals.
Jeremy Rifkin is the principal architect of the Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change. The Third Industrial Revolution was formally endorsed by the European Parliament in 2007 and is now being implemented by various agencies within the European Commission. Jeremy Rifkin has lectured before many Fortune 500 companies, and hundreds of governments, civil society organizations, and universities over the past thirty five years [3
Jeremy Rifkin is the founder and chairperson of the ''Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable'', comprising more than 100 of the world's leading renewable energy companies, construction companies, architectural firms, real estate companies, IT companies, power and utility companies, and transport and logistics companies. Rifkin's global economic development team is working with cities, regions, and national governments to develop master plans to transition their economies into post- carbon Third Industrial Revolution infrastructures. In 2009, Rifkin and his team developed Third Industrial Revolution master plans for the cities of San Antonio, Texas and Rome, Italy, to transition their economies into the first post carbon urban areas in the world.
In 1988, Rifkin brought together climate scientists and environmental activists from 35 nations in Washington, D.C. for the first meeting of the Global Greenhouse Network. In the same year, Rifkin did a series of Hollywood lectures on global warming and related environmental issues for a diverse assortment of film, television and music industry leaders, with the goal of organizing the Hollywood community for a campaign. Shortly thereafter, two Hollywood Environmental Organizations, Earth Communications Office (ECO), and Environmental Media Association, were formed.
In 1992, Rifkin launched the Beyond Beef Campaign, a coalition of six environmental groups including Green Peace, Rainforest Action Network, and Public Citizen, with the goal of encouraging a 50% reduction in the consumption of beef, arguing that methane emissions from Cattle has a warming effect 23 to 50 times greater than carbon dioxide.
Since 1994, Rifkin has been a senior lecturer at The Wharton School's executive education program at the University of Pennsylvania, where he instructs CEOs and senior corporate management from around the world on new trends in science and technology.
After the publication of ''The Hydrogen Economy'', Rifkin worked both in the U.S. and Europe to advance the political cause of renewably generated hydrogen. In the U.S., Rifkin was instrumental in founding the Green Hydrogen Coalition, consisting of thirteen environmental and political organizations (including Greenpeace and MoveOn.Org) that are committed to building a renewable hydrogen based economy.
Rifkin's work has also been controversial, and opponents have attacked the scientific rigor of his claims as well as some of the tactics he uses to promote his views.Stephen Jay Gould characterised Rifkin's 1983 book ''Algeny'' as "a cleverly constructed tract of anti-intellectual propaganda masquerading as scholarship".
A 1989 ''Time'' article about Rifkin entitled "The Most Hated Man in Science," stated that "[he] has forced the Government to establish regulatory pathways for some genetically engineered products and clarify practices for others."
Category:1945 births Category:American business theorists Category:American business writers Category:American economics writers Category:American economists Category:American non-fiction environmental writers Category:American technology writers Category:American Jews Category:Living people
cs:Jeremy Rifkin de:Jeremy Rifkin et:Jeremy Rifkin es:Jeremy Rifkin fr:Jeremy Rifkin ko:제러미 리프킨 it:Jeremy Rifkin pl:Jeremy Rifkin pt:Jeremy Rifkin sk:Jeremy Rifkin fi:Jeremy Rifkin sv:Jeremy RifkinThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
The World News (WN) Network, has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to user privacy. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for wn.com, as well as e-mail newsletters.
We do not collect personally identifiable information about you, except when you provide it to us. For example, if you submit an inquiry to us or sign up for our newsletter, you may be asked to provide certain information such as your contact details (name, e-mail address, mailing address, etc.).
When you submit your personally identifiable information through wn.com, you are giving your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy. If you would prefer that we not collect any personally identifiable information from you, please do not provide us with any such information. We will not sell or rent your personally identifiable information to third parties without your consent, except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy.
Except as otherwise disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we will use the information you provide us only for the purpose of responding to your inquiry or in connection with the service for which you provided such information. We may forward your contact information and inquiry to our affiliates and other divisions of our company that we feel can best address your inquiry or provide you with the requested service. We may also use the information you provide in aggregate form for internal business purposes, such as generating statistics and developing marketing plans. We may share or transfer such non-personally identifiable information with or to our affiliates, licensees, agents and partners.
We may retain other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf. Such third parties may be provided with access to personally identifiable information needed to perform their functions, but may not use such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may disclose any information, including personally identifiable information, we deem necessary, in our sole discretion, to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal proceeding or governmental request.
We do not want you to receive unwanted e-mail from us. We try to make it easy to opt-out of any service you have asked to receive. If you sign-up to our e-mail newsletters we do not sell, exchange or give your e-mail address to a third party.
E-mail addresses are collected via the wn.com web site. Users have to physically opt-in to receive the wn.com newsletter and a verification e-mail is sent. wn.com is clearly and conspicuously named at the point of
collection.If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter and promotional communications, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by e-mailing us at michaelw(at)wn.com
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during registration and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100 percent secure, however. Therefore, though we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
If we decide to change our e-mail practices, we will post those changes to this privacy statement, the homepage, and other places we think appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.
If we make material changes to our e-mail practices, we will notify you here, by e-mail, and by means of a notice on our home page.
The advertising banners and other forms of advertising appearing on this Web site are sometimes delivered to you, on our behalf, by a third party. In the course of serving advertisements to this site, the third party may place or recognize a unique cookie on your browser. For more information on cookies, you can visit www.cookiecentral.com.
As we continue to develop our business, we might sell certain aspects of our entities or assets. In such transactions, user information, including personally identifiable information, generally is one of the transferred business assets, and by submitting your personal information on Wn.com you agree that your data may be transferred to such parties in these circumstances.