Why Mercedes-Benz still using the name DaimlerChrysler ?

[ALESI]

Why is Mercedes-benz still using the name DaimlerChrysler is they sold Chrysler off?

 

[Centurion]

Name changes don't happen over night. Especially not with gigantic companies. It takes both time and money. It's lika a marriage, the divorce and name change can take several months or even one or two years.

 

[Deleted member 25]

I think they want to recall the group Daimler but this name is hold by Ford.

 

[EnI]

DCX made a deal with Ford recently to use Daimler name as a corporate name (no rights to use it on automobiles though!). The name will be officially changed to Daimler AG at shareholder meeting in October, or November - since the shareholders have to vote & approve the change.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

I don't understand why they Didn't go back to Daimler Benz AG.

 

[EnI]

I don't understand why they Didn't go back to Daimler Benz AG.

Perhaps Daimler-Benz sounds a bit too German for quite a large bunch of US investors in DCX.

 

[bmer]

I don't understand why they Didn't go back to Daimler Benz AG.

Because they still own 20 % of Chrysler?

 

[EnI]

Hmmm,

Investor structure in DCX is very interesting - showing a big weakness of DCX:

• 39.4% share is in hands of investors from Germany, 36.3% from Europe excl. Germany, 17.0% from USA, 6.9% of from Kuwait, 0.4% form other countries
• major shareholder (largest single / individual shareholder) is Emirate of Kuwait with 6.9% share
• remaining 93.1% share is in free float!
• 75.6% share of free flow shares is in the hands of institutional investors, 17.5% in hands of private investors

Eg. in Porsche AG case Piech / Porsche family owns 50% of PAG, 25% private investors (mainly Germany), 25% institutional investors (mainly UK, Germany & USA) - so only 50% shares of Porsche is in free flow.

Eg. BMW AG: 46.6% owned by Qunadt family (Stefan: 17.4%, Johanna: 16.7%, Susanne: 12.5%). 53.4% in free float (44.6% institutional investors, 8.8% private investors). Institutional investors: 10.8% from Germany, 6.6% form other Conti-Europe, 12.8% from UK & Ireland, 9.8% form USA & Canada, 4.7% from rest of the world.

Eg. Volksvagen AG: 20.0% Porsche AG (= 30.97% voting rights!!!), 14.8% German State of Lower Saxony (= 20.26% voting rights!!!), 5.8% German institutional investors, 23.9% Foreign institutional investors, 35.5% Private shareholders.



That shows DCX investor structure is very fragile & unstable - making DCX very vulnerable. Having no major shareholder with strategic longterm interest & clear vision what to do with the company.

 

[Anisc]

Eni - Excellent point. 75.6% free flow shares in hand of institutional investors makes corporate governance a big issue for DCX. Secondly, higher shares in free float make it difficult to reach consensus on company direction. Fringe elements like the private investors then play a bigger role. However, their interest is to maximize cash flows and not on strategic direction.

Its easy to see why the Porsches' and the BMW' keep their expansion plans clearly aligned with long term strategy

Hmmm,

Investor structure in DCX is very interesting - showing a big weakness of DCX:

• 39.4% share is in hands of investors from Germany, 36.3% from Europe excl. Germany, 17.0% from USA, 6.9% of from Kuwait, 0.4% form other countries
• major shareholder (largest single / individual shareholder) is Emirate of Kuwait with 6.9% share
• remaining 93.1% share is in free float!
• 75.6% share of free flow shares is in the hands of institutional investors, 17.5% in hands of private investors

Eg. in Porsche AG case Piech / Porsche family owns 50% of PAG, 25% private investors (mainly Germany), 25% institutional investors (mainly UK, Germany & USA) - so only 50% shares of Porsche is in free flow.

Eg. BMW AG: 46.6% owned by Qunadt family (Stefan: 17.4%, Johanna: 16.7%, Susanne: 12.5%). 53.4% in free float (44.6% institutional investors, 8.8% private investors). Institutional investors: 10.8% from Germany, 6.6% form other Conti-Europe, 12.8% from UK & Ireland, 9.8% form USA & Canada, 4.7% from rest of the world.

Eg. Volksvagen AG: 20.0% Porsche AG (= 30.97% voting rights!!!), 14.8% German State of Lower Saxony (= 20.26% voting rights!!!), 5.8% German institutional investors, 23.9% Foreign institutional investors, 35.5% Private shareholders.



That shows DCX investor structure is very fragile & unstable - making DCX very vulnerable. Having no major shareholder with strategic longterm interest & clear vision what to do with the company.

 

[marcei]

The new name will be announced next shareholder meeting.

I expect that Daimler will announce a profit up to 5-6 billion EUR operating profit in 2007 than and it's expected that they will made more than 8-10 Billion profit in year 2008/2009. The future is bright .

 

[EnI]

The new name will be announced next shareholder meeting.

I expect that Daimler will announce a profit up to 5-6 billion EUR operating profit in 2007 than and it's expected that they will made more than 8-10 Billion profit in year 2008/2009. The future is bright .

Interesting. You expectations, or Daimler AG expectations?

Yet I bet those figures are EBIT figures (earnings before interests & taxes). I'm more interested in net profit figures though.

But mind they are planning to sell a 7.5% stake in EADS (European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Company; parent company of Airbus) this year - reducing their share in EDAS from 22.5% to 15%. And I'm sure they will also sell the remaining stake in the following years. So, some of the profit will derive directly from financial investment sales, not from core operating business - like in case of BMW AG profit figures in 2006 (when they sold a stake in aero engine maker Rolls-Royce Plc.).

 

[Merc1]

Workers replace a Daimler-Benz sign with one that says DaimlerChrysler in 1998.


DCX set to shed Chrysler from name

Shareholders expected to approve change today; some wondering what happened to Benz.

BERLIN -- From Daimler-Benz to DaimlerChrysler and now just plain old Daimler.

Many shareholders are breathing a sigh of relief as DaimlerChrysler goes through the formality of shedding "Chrysler" from its letterhead -- a final farewell to the money-losing American automaker it sold most of earlier this year.

But some are wondering: What happened to Mr. Benz?

Though shareholders are widely expected to approve the change to Daimler AG today, scores have complained that the company should still include the name of Karl Benz, a man often considered the grandfather of the automobile in Germany.

Among several motions to be considered at the meeting in Berlin, shareholder Bernd Gans of Vaterstetten, Germany, argues that returning to the original name would right a wrong.

"Replacing the traditional name of Benz with the name of the U.S. corporation, which at that time was already sufficiently well-known as a crisis company, was always regarded as arbitrary and in bad style," he wrote.

"A return to including the name of one of the founders, Benz, would ... constitute a certain degree of compensation for the many years of frustration for the employees, particularly in the traditional Benz plants, who deserve to find equal recognition in the name of the corporation in the same way as the employees of the Daimler plants."

Daimler-Benz was formed in 1926 by a combination of companies founded by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler.

Daimler-Benz AG took over Chrysler Corp. in a $36 billion deal in 1998, in what then-Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp called a "marriage made in heaven" as the German company looked for new markets and new opportunities.

But the deal was never popular with German shareholders, who saw the merger as dulling the sheen of one of their country's greatest automakers.

After a decade of up-and-down Chrysler earnings and repeated cost-cutting, DaimlerChrysler AG finally decided earlier this year to shed the American company.

In May, DaimlerChrysler AG's supervisory board approved selling an 80.1 percent stake in Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP.

Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said Daimler AG plans to hold on to its 19.9 percent stake in Chrysler and pledged "close cooperation wherever it makes sense."

Daimler changed its share symbol on Frankfurt and New York exchanges in August to DAI from DCX.


DCX set to shed Chrysler from name


M

 

[bmer]

Daimler renames car division Mercedes-Benz Cars​

Thu Oct 4, 2007 5:25am EDT
By Arno Schuetze

BERLIN (Reuters) - Eager to respect an automotive pioneer and head off investor ire, the re-named Daimler AG will call its passenger car business Mercedes-Benz Cars, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche told shareholders on Thursday.

The German carmaker summoned shareholders to approve a name change to Daimler AG from DaimlerChrysler, after selling a majority stake in struggling U.S. arm Chrysler to buyout group Cerberus.

Shareholders have welcomed the move to unwind the failed $36 billion merger and abolish the old name, but many German investors and fans of the Mercedes-Benz line wanted the company to honor Carl Friedrich Benz again, at least in name.

Benz's company merged with that of Gottlieb Daimler in 1926 but his name fell off the corporate masthead when the now abandoned trans-Atlantic merger went through seven years ago.

Zetche insisted Daimler had to be the name of the group, but said there was still plenty of room to honor Benz.

"The proud name of Benz will not only remain prominent, it will have significantly higher visibility," he said.

That means its premium division Mercedes Car Group will become known as Mercedes-Benz Cars, while the van unit will be called Mercedes-Benz Vans and DaimlerChrysler Bank will be renamed Mercedes-Benz Bank.

The group's market-leading trucks business will be called Daimler Trucks, the bus brands will operate under the name Daimler Buses and Financial Services will be renamed Daimler Financial Services.

"The group name Daimler clearly indicates that we are writing a new chapter of our history, while at the same time continuing our tradition as the inventor of the automobile," Zetche said.

"And this rich heritage will remain an essential part of our identity -- of our DNA, so to speak," he said.

Before the meeting began the company reported Mercedes Car Group sales rose 7.4 percent in September to a record 124,600 vehicles, boosted by the new C-Class sedan.

In the first nine months of the year, Mercedes Car Group -- the world's second-biggest premium carmaker after BMW AG -- achieved a slight increase of 0.9 percent in vehicle sales to 942,300, it added.

Mercedes Car Group includes Smart minicars and super-luxury Maybach limousines as well as the Mercedes-Benz brand.


Daimler renames car division Mercedes-Benz Cars | Transportation | Reuters

 

[Merc1]

Wow, each group is going to be named "Mercedes-Benz" something.

M

 

[rev]

But still, IMHO it's not the same. People will refer to the company as Daimler AG and not as Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mercedes-Benz Vans and Mercedes-Benz Bank AG or sth! The name Benz is still missing. Sorry, but I don't agree at all with Mr. Zetche about the name of the group.

 

[Merc1]

Yeah I want it to go back to Daimler-Benz AG too, but oh well. At least the company is really coming back around strongly, no matter what its called.

M

 

[rev]

Yeah I want it to go back to Daimler-Benz AG too, but oh well. At least the company is really coming back around strongly, no matter what its called.

M

I guess you're right. We are common mortals after all and there is nothing we can do about it.