Management & Leadership

Viewsroom: Carlos Ghosn’s great escape

16 January 2020

The international car boss who fled Japanese authorities is now lambasting Nissan and suing Renault for money due. Breakingviews columnists discuss why the latest twists overshadow the fraying global alliance of three automakers. Also, why China’s Geely wants Aston Martin.

Santander CEO fiasco exposes banking’s fault line

16 January 2020

It’s a year since chair Ana Botin reversed her decision to make UBS executive Andrea Orcel the Spanish group’s boss. Misgivings about pay and management style were rooted in the gulf between wholesale and retail lenders. A 112 mln euro lawsuit will lay bare the culture clash.

Hadas: Ghosn caught in non-prisoner dilemma

15 January 2020

The self-liberated former Nissan boss dodged Japanese justice, but took his conscience with him to Lebanon. His decision to flee would be hard to justify without insistent claims of total innocence. Still, the moral and practical case for showing some contrition is strong.

Siemens CEO’s climate blog sends semi-woke signal

13 January 2020

Joe Kaeser has admitted the 98 bln euro German engineer should not be working on Australia’s Adani coal mine, but cannot pull out. Creating a panel to vet deals for their greenness, and possibly nix them, is partial penance. The CEO’s public disapproval may be a better deterrent.

Boeing CEO’s top task is to re-engineer culture

10 January 2020

David Calhoun knows the importance of a company ethos, after having a front seat at General Electric’s rise and fall. Disturbing messages released by Boeing show a multi-year overhaul facing him – refocusing the firm from profit to engendering trust and making great planes.

IAG dealmaking will outlast Willie Walsh

9 January 2020

The Irishman is disembarking after nine years at the helm of the BA and Iberia owner. The holding structure he led from its birth has been more successful than Air France-KLM and makes it easier for his successor to go shopping, say for a carrier that flies to South America.

UBS goes for growth with wealth management rejig

7 January 2020

Fresh from hiring rival executive Iqbal Khan, the bank which oversees $2.5 trln is axing unnecessary layers to serve rich clients better and faster. Only 2% of the unit’s jobs will go, though. UBS needs to boost lending to get its cost structure into line with leaner competitors.

Buyout barons will be next to face pay backlash

6 January 2020

Private-equity managers can earn more than company CEOs or bankers, whose remuneration has drawn most scrutiny in recent years. The $4 trln industry is now too big to stay under the radar. A surge in company failures would make well-paid dealmakers easy targets for politicians.

South Africa’s Absa opts for safety-first recovery

6 January 2020

The $9 bln group made former central bank deputy Daniel Mminele its new CEO. Like other local lenders, the former Barclays unit needs growth from elsewhere on the continent to offset domestic weakness. Installing a career regulator suggests little appetite for a high-risk charge.

Carlos Ghosn helps the 1% end decade on-brand

2 January 2020

Nissan’s ex-boss didn’t like Japan’s justice system, and so arranged an escape to his former home Lebanon. The grotesque use of wealth ties a bow on a lucrative 10-year run for the ultra-rich. Leave it to a man who once partied at Versailles to rally the anti-plutocracy movement.

Travis Kalanick leaves Uber with no path to profit

24 December 2019

The ride-hailing app’s co-founder and ex-CEO is leaving the board after being sidelined and selling most of his shares. The $53 bln firm has moved on from his tumultuous leadership. But successor Dara Khosrowshahi has yet to work out how to remove the roadblocks to making money.

Boeing CEO ejection brings stability, temporarily

23 December 2019

The aviation giant’s decision to put chairman David Calhoun in the pilot’s seat offers a chance to reset strained regulator and customer relations. But the former GE exec’s appointment may also indicate Boeing’s engineering and cultural problems are more severe than expected.

Credit Suisse spy scandal calls for CEO bonus cut

23 December 2019

Swiss regulators are probing the lender’s surveillance of two senior executives. The fiasco undermines the $33 bln bank’s internal controls, and may deter clients and dealmakers. While he hasn’t been directly blamed, boss Tidjane Thiam owes investors a gesture of solidarity.

New BoE boss is only partly the safe choice

20 December 2019

Andrew Bailey is the next governor of the Bank of England. His CV is more complete than internal rivals, and Brexit arguably means the role needs an unflashy Brit more than a carbon copy of Canadian incumbent Mark Carney. But Bailey will need to prove that his BoE is independent.

Viewsroom: Jack Dorsey’s heroic year ahead

19 December 2019

From banning political ads to developing cryptocurrency plans, the CEO of Twitter and Square has been politically more astute than rivals like Facebook. That sets him up for a good 2020. Also: the different ways that shareholders, the Fed and M&A bankers will tackle climate risk.

Bringing back Tata’s old boss offers no panacea

18 December 2019

A court has ordered the $160 bln Indian giant to reinstate Cyrus Mistry – ousted as chairman in 2016 – and declared his successor’s appointment illegal. The disruption may exacerbate Tata woes that range from cars to steel. And returns under Mistry were only slightly better.

Nasty pieces of WeWork

17 December 2019

The shared-office outfit’s absurd $47 bln valuation wasn’t all that got exposed during a shambolic IPO attempt that led to SoftBank’s bailout. With any luck, founder worship, supervoting shares, weak governance, wacky missions and more will be knocked down a peg – or several.

Power Corp tycoons play it commendably straight

16 December 2019

Canada’s Desmarais family is simplifying its holding structure, moving outside owners of Power Financial up to its $10 bln parent, Power Corp. A valuation discount is narrowed, transparency is improved, and no one is being forced to sell at cut price. It’s power used responsibly.

Review: The billionaire doth protest too much

13 December 2019

It’s hard out there for the mega-rich – they are being asked to pay up and check their privilege. Enter a new subgenre: the defensive billionaire bio. Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts is the latest to claim – only somewhat convincingly – that hard work explains almost everything.

Hadas: Workers on boards make good capitalists

11 December 2019

A clever new study shows German companies whose employees sit on supervisory boards invest more than those without. Wages are higher and profitability is no lower. The model may be hard to replicate. Still, it’s a reminder that cooperation can outperform conflict.