Cost-Cutting at Daimler to Eliminate 6,000 Jobs

By CARTER DOUGHERTY International Herald Tribune
Published: January 25, 2006
FRANKFURT, Jan. 24 - DaimlerChrysler said Tuesday that it would eliminate 6,000 white-collar jobs, 20 percent of its administrative work force around the world, taking its cost-cutting drive beyond the factory floor.
The company said it would save $1.8 billion a year after this and other streamlining efforts were completed by the end of 2008. Of the white-collar cuts, 30 percent would come from the management level.
"Over the last several years, we focused on our automotive business and started to streamline the core processes in our divisions," Dieter Zetsche, the chief executive, said in a statement on Tuesday. "But to safeguard our future in this competitive global industry, we need to apply that same equation across all general and administrative functions."
While declining to speculate where the cuts would occur, Mr. Zetsche said that the pool of employees affected was overwhelmingly in Germany, where the company is based. About 57 percent of the company's white-collar employees are in Germany, with 25 percent in the United States and Canada, and the rest spread throughout the world, he said.

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