I was reading in the globe and mail business section how daimler crystler is paying out of court lawsuit settlements to chrystler pre-merger shareholders who were led to beleive the merger of the two companies was in fact a merger, not a takeover.

since the "merger", loads of detriot executives have been sent packing, with most of the decisions now being made in stuttgart. those Chystler shareholders who supported the merger (and fought other takeovers to that point) understood the arrangement to be amoung equals and have sued evidencing the realities of daimler's muscle; to this point $350 million has been quietly paid out.

daimler benz got very rich very quick in the late 80s - mid 90s and wanted to strengthen its asset base and expand its north american operations (where all that money got made) by vastly over paying for the chystler shares, which actually benefitted Chrystler shareholders. But the plan to takeover the world ran into some sobering bottom lines; DB bought a white elephant: the auto market tanked, and chrystler had some hidden problems of its own.

Rumour has it now that Stuttgart wants to sell the North American operations (i.e., Chrystler)...currently, no one is sniffing for a deal, save the lawyers looking for a lawsuit to file.

It'll be interesting to see how this falls out.

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1960 MB 190Db w/ full sunroof
1985 Toyota Pickup
2006 Honda Odyssey EXL R&N
2001 VW Jetta GLS TDI