Chrysler Losses reported to hit 1.25 BILLION

[RAM MAN]

This is a quote from an AP article in the Detroit Free press:

"Fortunes nosedive after dismal quarter."

Chrysler's operating profit for 2000 will be $445 million, compared to 4.6 BILLION in 1999.

Frankfurt, Germany:

DamilerChyrsler AG's struggling Chysler division will lose $1.25 billion in the fourth quarter of this year, accordinmg to a newspaper report released Sunday.

That loss would be more than twice the $512 million the U.S. Division lost in the third quarter.

The poor figures sparked a recent management shakeup that put German executive Dieter Zetsche at the head of Chrysler to turn things around, among other management changes. Zetsche replaced American James Holden.

The Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, citing sources in Frankfurt financial circles, said Sunday in an advance copy of today's article that DC chairman Juergen Schrempp will send a letter today to all company shareholders warning of the loss.

DC spokesman Jack Ferry would not comment on the report Sunday. He confirmed, however, that a "very comprehensive letter on the company situation" would be sent to share holders this morning.

Analysts had previously warned that Chrysler's fourth-quarter loss would be worse than the quarter before.

The newspaper said Chrysler's operating profit for 2000 would be $445 million, compared to $4.6 billion in 1999.

Schrempp will also warn that 2001 wil be a weak year for the German American company, the Frankfurter Allgemeine said.

DC shares had slumped to lows before the third quarter losses were announced and have since fallen further.

Shareholder groups have attacked the company and some Germans have demanded Schrempp's resignation. U.S. investors have filed a wave of lawsuits, including an $8 billion claim filed by U.S. investor Kirk Kerkorian, DC's 3rd largest shareholder.

Kerkorian claims Schrempp defrauded shareholders by depicting the 1998 union as a merger of equals instead of a full-blown German buyout."

There you have it.

DC has seen tough times before and I'm sure it will turn around again.

It might actually be a good time to buy stock (if you could afford it - and afford to just sit on it for a while) not that I'm a financial investor or anything . . .

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