The BMW 1959 shareholders assembly is considered one of legends. The story goes that BMW, confronted with extinction turned to Daimler-Benz for a lifeline. After all that lifeline would have meant the absorption of the model into the Mercedes household the place it might have been positioned as entry-level or eradicated altogether. However none of that ever occurred due to one man’s imaginative and prescient.
That man was Herbert Quandt. He wasn’t new to manufacturing as some have reported. He truly led the Quandt group which was a conglomerate of about 200 companies together with the battery producer, a number of steel fabrication firms, textile firms, and chemical firms. The group additionally owned about 10% of automotive firm Daimler-Benz and about 30% of BMW.
The Actual Story
The reality is that BMW was on its final legs in 1959 and its administration was pushing to promote all the firm to Daimler-Benz. Herbert Quandt was near agreeing to such a deal, however modified his thoughts on the final minute due to opposition from the workforce and commerce unions. As a substitute he elevated his share in BMW to 50% in opposition to the recommendation of his bankers, risking a lot of his wealth.
Quandt went on to be instrumental in reversing the corporate’s fortunes by financing the BMW 700 which reworked the corporate’s profitability. The remainder is in fact historical past. The 2000 after which the 2002 additional reworked the corporate’s fortunes and BMW went from energy to energy from the 70’s all the best way to at this time.