Investors Slam Daimler Execs at Annual Meeting

Disgruntled shareholders and fund managers criticized DaimlerChrysler’s executives Wednesday for the automaker’s recent earnings slide and quality problems at its Mercedes division, singling out Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp with demands that he step down.

Schrempp defended the company’s performance but said it was intent on doing better.

Despite the criticism, 95% of shareholders gave the board their vote of confidence. More than 8,000 investors attended the annual meeting, held in Berlin, and several fund managers said they would oppose or abstain from the largely symbolic vote on management’s performance.

“Is it really useful to shoot yourself in the foot to prove you’re a capable doctor?” asked Klaus Kaldemorgen of Deutsche Bank’s fund management unit DWS.

Others called for Schrempp, whose contract runs through 2008, to leave the company immediately.

“If there’s anything you can do or say, it’s only that ‘I hereby resign,’ ” said individual shareholder Hans Walter Grunewalder.

Schrempp listened to the litany of complaints and accusations of mismanagement for hours, a result of German law that lets everyone with even a few shares have their five minutes at the microphone.

Most were critical of the company’s sagging fourth-quarter results, mentioning the quality issues that have plagued Mercedes-Benz and the expensive restructuring of its money-losing Smart car unit.