Daimler CFO, Bodo Uebber is new EADS chairman

16 April 2009

European aerospace and defence giant EADS on Wednesday appointed Daimler AG's chief financial officer, Bodo Uebber, as its new chairman. Current chairman Reudiger Grube takes over as chief executive, Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway, later this year.

Uebber has been CFO of Daimler since 2003 and has been on the board of the German car maker since 2004. He's also been on the board of EADS since 2007.

Daimler has a key say in any board nomination at EADS because it holds a 22.5% stake in the company.

Management appointments at EADS are political affairs because of the need to maintain a balance of power between the French and German interests within the company. EADS is controlled by Daimler on one hand and by a French entity comprising media group Lagardere and the French state on the other hand. Because EADS's chief executive, Louis Gallois, is French, the chairman position automatically goes to a German.

Uebber takes over as new chairman with the group facing a difficult time as its principal revenue earner, Airbus, is now facing a decline in orders for its commercial planes as demand slumps amid the global economic crisis.

Last month Airbus called a forecast for it to bag between 300 and 400 new gross orders in 2009 "increasingly challenging." Cancellations and delays for already-placed orders are also becoming increasingly frequent.