For months almost everyone has known that Chrysler has been having its troubles (TIME, Jan. 25). Last week Board Chairman K. T. Keller and President Lester Lum ("Tex") Colbert told the worst. In the first half of 1954, they reported, Chrysler sales dropped 42% to $1.1 billion, while earnings dipped 64% to $1.81 a share. Directors forthwith chopped the quarterly dividend rate in half, to 75¢. Keller and Colbert indicated that third-quarter results would be no better, due to shutdowns for new model changes.
As stock traders rushed to unload, Chrysler broke 5¾...
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