Yahoo: Siemens AG tried Sunday to blunt fierce criticism from politicians, labor unions and the media for unloading its mobile phone business on a Taiwanese company which has failed to keep it afloat.
The German electronics and engineering conglomerate ceded its unprofitable handset business to Taiwan’s BenQ Corp. last year as part of a restructuring drive under chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld. (…)
However, BenQ unexpectedly pulled the plug last week, saying it could not afford to pump in more capital and that it saw only “a very slim chance” of turning the business around.
BenQ Mobile filed for insolvency protection on Friday and a court-appointed administrator said Saturday that he had three months to try to salvage it.
With 3,000 German jobs at stake, labor leaders and politicians have accused Siemens as well as BenQ of betrayal and are putting massive pressure on the Munich-based company to step in to help.
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