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News > Deals
Kerkorian sale confirmed
January 23, 2001: 10:38 a.m. ET

Financier who is suing DaimlerChrysler sold almost half of his 33M shares
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Financier Kirk Kerkorian has sold about half his stake in DaimlerChrysler Corp., according to a person familiar with the transaction.

Officials of Kerkorian's investment arm, Tracinda Corp., said they would not comment on his holdings, but CNNfn confirmed that Kerkorian has sold about 16 million of his 33 million shares. The Wall Street Journal Monday initially reported Kerkorian's sale of 10 million shares of DaimlerChrysler.

graphicKerkorian was the largest shareholder in the former Chrysler Corp. at the time it merged with Daimler-Benz AG, and became the third-largest shareholder in the combined automaker after Deutsche Bank, which owns about 12 percent, and the Kuwait Investment Authority, which owns about 7 percent. Kerkorian owned about 3.3 percent before the latest sale.

In recent months he has become one of its harshest critics, suing the company and charging that its German leadership committed fraud when it portrayed their 1998 purchase of Chrysler as a merger of equals. The suit was filed in November and sought $8 billion in damages as well as a unraveling of the merger.

graphicChrysler Group, which encompasses the company's U.S. operations, started losing money in the third quarter and those losses are expected to extend into this year. Dieter Zetsche, the German CEO of the Chrysler Group who was put in place just before Kerkorian's suit was filed, plans to unveil the company's turnaround plan for the unit Feb. 26.

Shares of DaimlerChrysler gained 0.90 euro to graphic50.90 in Frankfurt trading Tuesday, while American depositary receipts of DaimlerChrysler (DCX: Research, Estimates) rose 50 cent to $47.57. graphic




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