Former Chrysler Chief Denies Setting up Daimler “Takeover”

Bob Eaton, the former chief of Chrysler, told the federal court in Delaware on Thursday that he did not negotiate the company's 1998 link-up with Daimler-Benz as a takeover by the German group, but had to allow the development of a management structure that led to the erosion of American influence in the combined group. Eaton, speaking in the first week of the trial that will determine if Chrysler shareholders were tricked by the merger, said he "did not anticipate" a DaimlerChrysler management board composed of only one former Chrysler executive and 10 former Daimler-Benz executives, as is expected in January 2004. The case continues.