Overview

"The Wall Street Journal christened the deal ""the biggest industrial merger of all time."" The marriage of Daimler and Chrysler promised to rock the global auto industry and draw up a blueprint for international consolidation on an epic scale. But the union of Chrysler, the blue-collar maker of Jeeps and minivans, with Daimler, the crown jewel of German industry, didn't turn out to be a merger made in heaven. When the dust settled, Daimler had bought Chrysler, and the shock waves reverberated on both sides of the Atlantic. An American icon lost its independence, and a German giant grew in power and influence. The DaimlerChrysler deal brought together two automotive superpowers and triggered a chain reaction among competitors seeking partners around the world. In a gripping narrative ripped from the from the daily headlines, Bill Vlasic and Bradley A. Stertz of the Detroit News go behind the scenes of the defining corporate drama of the decade. With groundbreaking reporting, they reveal the untold story behind the unsuccessful attempt to take over Chrysler by its biggest shareholder, the reclusive billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, and its legendary retired CEO, Lee Iacocca. Their startling grab for the smallest of Detroit's Big Three automakers sparked secret talks between Chrysler and Daimler on a massive joint venture. The first deal collapsed, but it set the stage for the final, intense negotiations between Chrysler chairman Robert Eaton and Daimler chairman Jurgen Schrempp. It was hailed as a historic ""merger of equals,"" but the euphoria evaporated amid a clash of cultures, identities, and personalities. The action moves feverishly around the world with larger-than-life characters in the high-stakes arena of international automaking. Taken for a Ride follows the twists and turns in the road to DaimlerChrysler and, in the end, emerges as a cautionary tale of the risks and rewards of going global."

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entertaining account of Daimler's swallowing Chrysler. (Financial Times, 5th August 2000) ..Presents a breathless and US-centric but entertaining account of Chrysler. (Irish Times, 11th August 2000) This book is thick with Motor City financial trivia (The Mirror, 18th August 2000) The book deserves all the cult success it has achieved in the US. (Financial Times, 23rd September 2000) ... a lively and well-researched account of the Daimler-Chrysler merger by two Detroit News reporters... (European Business Forum, April 2001) ...Vlasic and Stertz, both employees of the Detroit News, carefully track every single event surrounding the merger which eventually took place in May 1998. They accurately portray the chief protagonists and narrate the high-stakes corporate drama as it unfolds... (Mercedes Enthusiast, December 2002)

A carefully documented yet spirited account of a corporate marriage seemingly made in hell.Nothing in the corporate cultures of Germany's Daimler-Benz and America's Chrysler suggested that the two would make a good match, according to <I>Detroit News<I> journalists Vlasic and Bradley: Daimler and Chrysler didn't develop, manufacture, market, or sell cars the same way. Daimler executives had larger staffs and fatter expense accounts. Chrysler officers had broader responsibilities and bigger salaries and bonuses. Vlasic and Stertz also note that Daimler was worth much more than Chrysler, by nearly every measure, and that Daimler's staff spoke fluent English and was perfectly at home in the global market, whereas the Detroit-based firm was resolutely insular and proud of its blue-collar, made-in-America ethos. Even so, in the mid-1990s, when billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian began to maneuver against self-promoting Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca for control of the companyinitiating, for instance, steps to buy up stock and return Chrysler to its former privately held statushe found curious allies in the German and Swiss executives who controlled Daimler-Benz (and who sought to broaden their Americanand then the Asianmarket). In 1998, after long, cloak-and-dagger negotiations that the authors recount in vivid detail, the parties engineered what has been called the biggest industrial merger of all time, involving a swap of stock valued at $38 billion and a restructuring of the corporate giants on both sides of the Atlantic. The merger had unforeseen consequences large and small; the authors note, for instance, that Kerkorian, who had ordered a new Boeing jet for his own use, had to switch to an Airbus, for with the union of Chrysler and Daimler he had become the largest single private investor in the Airbus consortium. More to the point, after the Germans took control over an American icon, they found themselves heading an unwieldy entity that may in the end do damage both to the Mercedes and the Chrysler brands (and one that, in any event, did not make any money for shareholders on either side of the Atlantic Ocean ).Sometimes breathlessly narrated but always interesting, this is a solid work of popular business reporting. (Kirkus Reviews)

The merger in 1998 between Chrysler and Daimler was the biggest of all time, and created a company with $130 billion in annual revenue. This book is both an account of the merger process in action and a cautionary tale of the perils of going global. It is based on interviews with key figures including Jurgen Schrempp and Lee Iaccoca. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Bill Vlasic is a reporter for the Detroit News and a former Business Week correspondent. He lives in Birmingham, Michigan, with his wife and three children. Bradley A. Stertz is an assistant editor of the Detroit News and a former reporter with the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife and two children.

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