Geely chairman builds $9 billion stake in Germany´s Daimler
(WorldNews China)

BEIJING/FRANKFURT: The chairman of Chinese carmaker Geely has built up a 9.69 percent stake in Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler, filings showed on Friday, an aggressive move designed to open the door for an industrial alliance between the two carmakers. Two sources familiar with the thinking of Li Shufu said his move to accumulate the stake, which has a market value of $9 billion, was motivated by the `dramatic transformation` under way in the automotive industry. His strategic goal was an alliance with Daimler, which is developing electric and self-driving vehicles, to respond to the challenge from U.S. players Tesla, Google and Uber, who are all working on their own driverless cars. `This is...