Jürgen E. Schrempp

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Jürgen Erich Schrempp (born September 15, 1944 in Freiburg) was until December 31, 2005, the CEO of DaimlerChrysler, a German-American car and truck manufacturer. Following a decision of the board taken on July 28, 2005, he was succeeded on January 1, 2006, by Chrysler frontman Dieter Zetsche. Schrempp was the architect of the merger between Daimler Benz and Chrysler, which ultimately ended in failure.

Schrempp currently resides in Munich, Germany. He is married to Lydia Schrempp, with whom he has a daughter and a son. Schrempp has two sons, Alexander and Marc, from his previous marriage to Renate Lutz.

During his tenure, Daimler-Benz made the acquisition of the Chrysler Corporation to become DaimlerChrysler. Schrempp infamously called the merger a "match made in heaven": however, the heavenly match became a nightmare when the substantial debts and production problems within the Chrysler operation effectively wiped out Daimler-Benz cash reserves within months.^{[citation needed]} In addition to the acquisition of Chrysler, Schrempp pursued the acquisition of Mitsubishi Motors as part of his 'Three Pillars' strategy to expand the reach of Daimler-Benz into the major markets of the USA and Asia.

In 2004, the Mitsubishi investment became a liability with the Japanese manufacturer swamped under a mountain of debt and following a refusal by other members of the Japanese Mitsubishi keiretsu to assist Daimler in funding its operation on-going. The German company eventually 'walked away' with further substantial losses. On the 14th of May, 2007, Daimler sold 80% of Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus.

Before becoming the CEO of Daimler-Benz in 1995, Schrempp headed the aerospace division of Daimler-Benz, then called DASA, which is EADS today. DASA acquired the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker that was already in problems in 1993 after it signed the contract stating the intention to take Fokker over on October 30, 1992. Schrempp called Fokker his "love baby". On January 22, 1996, after having subsidized the losses of Fokker with billions of Deutsche Marks, Daimler-Benz decided to stop putting more money into Fokker that subsequently went bankrupt.

Schrempp is the recipient of:

• Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
• Bavarian Order of Merit
• Medal of Merit of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg
• Commander of the National Order of Merit of the French Republic
• Commander of the French Legion of Honour
• The Vatican City’s Cross of the St. Gregorius Order
• Austrian Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold with Star for Services
• Brazilian Southern Cross.
• Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship^[1]

He is a Director of the South African Coal, Oil and Gas Corporation Ltd., and Compagnie Financière Richemont S.A., Switzerland. Additional engagements include the Chairmanship of United Global Academy - UGA, the Advisory Board of Deutsche Bank, the European Advisory Board of Harvard Business School, and the German Council of INSEAD.

He was previously a non-executive director of Vodafone Group plc, after their 2000 take over of Mannesman Group.^[2]

References

External links

• Dutch Wikipedia nl:Fokker 30 July 2005
• Daimler's nose dive: After reporting Germany's worst loss ever, the company dumps Dutch planemaker Fokker as diversification fails article in TIME International February 5, 1996 Volume 147, No. 6