The chief executives of General Motors Corp and DaimlerChrysler met in December to kick off two months of ongoing talks about a sale of Chrysler Group, the Detroit News reported Monday.
The newspaper quoted unnamed people familiar with the negotiations as saying that GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner met DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche in Detroit in December to discuss the prospect of GM acquiring Chrysler.
News of the talks first emerged last week. People familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday that General Motors was in preliminary talks to buy Chrysler or to strike an alliance.
The Detroit News report was the first indication that consideration of the deal was active at the highest levels of both companies.
Representatives of GM and DaimlerChrysler could not be immediately reached for comment. Both sides have declined comment on the talks.
Analysts have been deeply skeptical about a GM takeover of Chrysler, arguing that such a deal would risk complicating the turnaround efforts of both automakers.
The Detroit News said that while talks were still in the early stages at least four meetings have taken place involving Wagoner, GM Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson, Zetsche and DaimlerChrysler Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber.
The merger talks are ongoing, primarily between Henderson and Uebber, the newspaper said.
In European trade, shares in DaimlerChrysler on Monday touched their highest level since August 2001 in reaction to the growing indications it could sell or spin off Chrysler.
Zetsche, who has faced mounting pressure from investors to sell or spin off Chrysler, said last week that all options were open for DaimlerChrysler's struggling North American unit.
Chrysler, which reported a $1.48 billion operating loss for 2006, plans to cut 13,000 jobs in North America, reduce production and shutter a plant in Delaware that makes its slow-selling Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle in a bid to return to profitability by 2008.
