DaimlerChrysler warns of Q2 loss at Chrysler
Berlin: Automaker DaimlerChrysler has warned that its US unit Chrysler would post an operating loss of about $1.2 billion in the second quarter because of fierce price competition with rivals and cut its full-year earnings target for the division and the company as a whole. "DaimlerChrysler's analysis of the developments in the North American market, in particular further incentive increases, indicate that Chrysler will likely record an operating loss of around $1.2 billion in second quarter," it said in a statement late on Tuesday. Results in the quarter were also hit by cutting the value of dealer stocks, it said. For the whole of 2003, DaimlerChrysler said that cost-cutting would help Chrysler to post a "slightly positive" operating profit -earnings before tax and interest charges - when restructuring charges also are excluded.
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1,000 Ericsson staff to move to HP
Stockholm: Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson said on Wednesday it would transfer about 1,000 employees to Hewlett-Packard as part of a five-year outsourcing deal for its Information Technology operations worldwide.The deal, of an undisclosed value, will help Ericsson, the world's biggest producer of mobile networks, meet its goal of returning to profit sometime this year on a shrinking market. Ericsson signed a memorandum of understanding with Hewlett- Packard on the deal in April but did not say then how many staff would be affected. In the red for 10 straight quarters, Ericsson wants to cut its workforce to 47,000 in 2004 from 61,000 now, and outsourcing non-core businesses is one of the ways to do it. "Outsourcing of IT operations is part of Ericsson's...overall restructuring program aiming at radically reducing the operating expenses and cost of sales," Ericsson deputy chief executive Per-Arne Sandstrom said in a statement.
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AOL subscriber defections top one million
Washington: America Online has lost more than one million dial-up customers since a dramatic decline in its subscriber base began late last year, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the figures. The Internet unit of AOL Time Warner was rapidly losing customers to lower-priced Internet services as well as to higher-priced high-speed cable and telephone providers, the paper said. AOL Time Warner's chief financial officer Wayne Pace told a media conference this week that the fall-off in subscribers was much steeper than AOL had projected, the newspaper reported. An America Online spokesman was not immediately available for comment early on Wednesday. The report said that customers were swapping the $23.90-per-month AOL service for low-cost providers led by United Online Inc, which owns NetZero, Juno and other bare-bones services that charge $9.95 a month for Internet access.
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