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Daimler eyes Detroit move
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October 5, 1999: 10:09 a.m. ET
World's No. 3 carmaker said to mull relocating to U.S.; firm has no comment
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LONDON (CNNfn) - DaimlerChrysler, the world's No. 3 automaker, saw its stock jump 2.6 percent Tuesday on a report that it is considering moving its headquarters to the United States from Stuttgart, Germany.
CEO Jürgen Schrempp has floated the idea of relocating the company's headquarters internally, according to an article in the weekly magazine Der Stern, which is due to be published Thursday.
The article claims the move is under consideration in a bid to shore up the share price. The shares have lost a third of their value since April and were rocked more recently preceding a management board shake-up amid rumors of a split between the company's German and U.S. management.
The company declined to comment to CNNfn.com on the report.
Analysts said some of the selling pressure on the stock was due to DaimlerChrysler being removed from the S&P 500 index after the merger because the new company is based outside the United States.
"There's a large number of U.S. institutions who only buy S&P 500 stocks," Stephen Reitman, auto analyst at Merrill Lynch, told Reuters.
American investors have declined from 44 percent at the time of the $42 billion merger last November to below 25 percent now, according to Merrill Lynch estimates.
Other concerns also continue to haunt the stock, including the move by the high-priced Mercedes-Benz line into the small car market. The loss of North American president Thomas Stallkamp also has raised concerns that the company will lose invaluable Chrysler expertise in low-cost production techniques.
The move also would prove politically explosive in Germany, where DaimlerChrysler is the largest company.
The stock gained 1.72 euros in afternoon trade in Frankfurt to trade at 67.63. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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