Expedia’s double boot is swift, harsh and helpful 4 Dec 2019 The travel site’s CEO and CFO are both out after a disagreement with the board over strategy and a brutal profit warning last month. The tumult is bad but the message is good: Chairman Barry Diller thinks the company can do better. His track record elsewhere bolsters his case.
Google CEO move is solution in search of a problem 3 Dec 2019 Sundar Pichai will now also lead $890 bln parent Alphabet, replacing Larry Page. Co-founder Sergey Brin will step back too. Pichai was already the firm’s public face in Washington, where it faces scrutiny. A big reason for the shuffle is elusive, but there may be many small ones.
DSM’s two new heads stretch sustainability halo 2 Dec 2019 Feike Sijbesma is leaving the $23 bln Dutch maker of food supplements and fibres. In 13 years as CEO, he championed planet-friendly businesses while delivering a 443% return to investors. Handing the job to two subordinates adds a governance challenge to sky-high expectations.
Nomura takes the easiest road with new CEO 2 Dec 2019 Koji Nagai performed poorly as boss and will now become chairman, a shareholder-unfriendly tradition in corporate Japan. Successor Kentaro Okuda’s time running the Americas unit supports the bank’s global goals. But a veteran pick is unlikely to bring fast fixes to bigger issues.
Bankers’ pensions are a sideshow in CEO pay row 27 Nov 2019 Lloyds may slash Antonio Horta-Osorio’s retirement allowance to 15% of base salary, from 46% previously. As with Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters, a cut was overdue. Still, bank bosses’ pay lags that of housebuilders and oil majors. Investors’ energies are better focused there.
Colony Capital is easy target even minus politics 26 Nov 2019 Activist investor Blackwells Capital wants Tom Barrack, the real-estate veteran and backer of Donald Trump, ousted as the asset manager’s CEO. Barrack has probably been distracted. But lousy returns on Colony’s stock and poor governance are enough to justify a shareholder revolt.
Maurice Levy and WeWork share unlikely synergies 25 Nov 2019 The 77-year-old adland grandee seems an odd pick for the office-sharing group’s C-suite. Yet the Publicis chairman earned his tech chops organising a huge Paris-based startup gathering. And his bulging blue-chip contact book may aid WeWork’s push for steadier corporate business.
Anime hero toys with Japan’s robotic governance 22 Nov 2019 Bandai Namco, the $14 bln creator of Pac-Man, wants to buy the rest of Sotsu, the company behind the iconic Gundam empire. A Chicago-based investor has flown in to fight a flawed deal unfair to minority shareholders. It may, however, take regulators to save the day.
Australia’s misbehaving banks run out of excuses 22 Nov 2019 Amid a $1.7 bln capital call, Westpac has been thwacked by a regulator for 23 mln money-laundering violations. Boss Brian Hartzer will find it hard to stay. The country’s lenders already have been shamed, fined and punished in other ways. It’s unclear how to set them straight.
HSBC markets boss exit presages U.S. and EU pain 20 Nov 2019 Investment-bank head Samir Assaf may be replaced as part of interim CEO Noel Quinn’s shakeup. His division’s consistent 10%-11% return on equity has been solid if unremarkable, and hides weaker U.S. and European units. Cost cuts should fall most heavily in those regions.
Agnellis poised to overtake Peugeots with car deal 20 Nov 2019 Two historic industrial families are negotiating to unite. Shares of the Peugeot clan’s $3 bln holding FFP have outperformed $19 bln Exor over the past five years. But bigger savings for Fiat in a Peugeot merger should allow the Italian dynasty to reclaim its longer-term edge.
T-Mobile US CEO exit leaves big question dangling 18 Nov 2019 Boss John Legere is leaving the telecom just as its $26 bln merger with Sprint nears its final hurdle. Successor Mike Sievert is a safe pair of hands. Still, the timing is peculiar, especially when Legere’s counterparts at Disney and AT&T stuck around to see M&A plans through.
Renault needs to break pay taboo to get right boss 18 Nov 2019 The French carmaker wants a new CEO, whose first job is to mend the Nissan relationship. But pay restraint at state-owned firms will deter contenders like Toyota’s Didier Leroy. Still, Air France busting its remuneration ceiling gives chair Jean-Dominique Senard some flexibility.
Viewsroom: SoftBank’s double trouble 14 Nov 2019 The Japanese firm is eyeing T-Mobile US CEO John Legere to take over leadership of WeWork. That is an additional twist in an already convoluted relationship. Legere is also trying to finalize a $26 bln deal with SoftBank’s Sprint, another asset in need of saving.
BHP boss hands over big shovel to successor 14 Nov 2019 Andrew Mackenzie departs the world's largest miner next month, leaving it in better shape than he found it. Veteran Mike Henry will face fresh challenges. He must make and sell a decision on a $20 bln potash project, and steer the steel ingredient producer into a greener era.
Uber’s success relies on CEO’s defensive driving 12 Nov 2019 Dara Khosrowshahi steadied the troubled firm and took it public in May. But its future depends on rivals. Car-hailing margins improved partly because Lyft cut marketing, while in faster-growing U.S. food delivery, competition is cutthroat. Keeping up will test his even keel.
WeWork pulls $26 bln telco deal into its vortex 11 Nov 2019 SoftBank may be considering T-Mobile US boss John Legere to run the office-sharing firm it rescued. But Legere is still clearing regulatory hurdles to a merger with Sprint, also backed by the Japanese firm. His early exit could leave SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son with double trouble.
New Credit Suisse investment-bank chief needs axe 11 Nov 2019 David Miller is taking over from James Amine, who helped run the unit for a decade. His top priority is to stop losing market share in key businesses like advising on deals. However, costs also look high, despite recent restructuring. There’s an argument for more cuts.
Viewsroom: When the CEO breaks the rules 7 Nov 2019 McDonald’s has provided a map for other firms after ousting boss Steve Easterbrook over a consensual relationship with an employee. Elsewhere, Aramco’s IPO and Fiat Chrysler’s merger with Peugeot. Plus: Breaking Japan’s love of hard cash.
McDonald’s CEO ouster sends clear #MeToo message 4 Nov 2019 The $144 bln fast-food chain replaced CEO Steve Easterbrook after he broke rules by having a consensual relationship with an employee. A simple policy, applied at the top, is one way to let everyone know that worse behavior – like harassment of subordinates – is out of bounds.