Management & Leadership

Symantec board leaves company exposed

9 May 2019

CEO Greg Clark is leaving the $14 bln cybersecurity firm with no successor. That’s poor planning. But directors, including an activist and two buyout barons, should have been better prepared after an audit probe and a slew of senior departures. Now Symantec may be an M&A target.

GE owners give Culp wrong kind of endorsement

8 May 2019

Shareholders of the U.S. conglomerate offered qualified support for the boss’s turnaround. They strongly backed his directors while casting a protest vote on pay. So it’s regrettable that they rejected a call for an independent chair, which could help avoid future problems.

Qantas captain flies into risky tenure territory

8 May 2019

Alan Joyce agreed to serve as CEO of the $6 bln Aussie airline for another three years. He’s young and has led an impressive turnaround over the past decade, but problems often pile up for bosses who stick around too long. Succession should be atop the Qantas board’s to-do list.

New winds may blow Korean Air successor off-course

8 May 2019

The sudden death of the carrier's patriarch has elevated scion Cho Won-tae to run the parent Hanjin conglomerate. A huge inheritance tax and restive shareholders, including the country's pension giant, threaten his grip, though. Heirs at Samsung and Hyundai face the same forces, too.

Downbeat CEOs are a reason to be cheerful

3 May 2019

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says he’s prepared for recession but doesn’t expect one. So, it seems, are other U.S. companies. They’re posting better earnings than feared but doing fewer deals and taking on less debt. So they should be ready if things worsen, and flush if they don’t.

Metro Bank’s rehab should start with the board

3 May 2019

The upstart lender’s deposits shrank in the first quarter and pre-tax profit halved after a capital blunder. Sliding shares make it harder to sell a planned 350 mln pound rights issue. A governance overhaul - starting with Chairman Vernon Hill - is vital to rebuilding confidence.

En+ chair gets relatively meagre sanctions bonus

2 May 2019

The Russian energy group has given Chairman Greg Barker $4 mln for successfully lobbying against U.S. sanctions, Bloomberg says. En+’s market value is up $1.5 bln since it avoided the strictures. Paying 0.3 pct to detoxify its business is a reasonable exchange.

Cox: Ghosn affair shoves Japan two steps back

2 May 2019

Harsh treatment by prosecutors has amazingly elicited some sympathy for the Nissan boss. Neither greed nor running the automaker like a deity is a crime. And the presumption of guilt on other matters is unseemly. It may scare off foreign executives just as Japan Inc goes global.

Irish import new thinking into ECB from Down Under

1 May 2019

Ireland has hired New Zealand’s treasury chief, Gabriel Makhlouf, as its new central bank boss. While not a rate-setter, he arrives from a country that added an employment target to its monetary authority’s inflation goal. And Dublin can brag it is attracting global talent.

Bayer can do more to defuse investor rage

1 May 2019

Shareholders cast a vote of disapproval against the German group’s management following cancer-related lawsuits linked to the acquisition of Monsanto. Yet neither side wants a new CEO or strategy. Revamping the board and boss Werner Baumann’s pay might quell the revolt.

Capitalists on defensive even as good times roll

30 Apr 2019

There’s a sense of foreboding at the annual Milken confab in LA. The U.S. economy is robust and valuations frothy. But last year’s tax cuts are history and a downturn may be looming. That could redouble the need to address tough challenges like diversity and inequality.

Boeing’s supine owners invite tougher co-pilots

29 Apr 2019

Investors rejected a fresh call for an independent chair of the $214 bln plane maker. Its boss, Dennis Muilenburg, has been slow to respond to the 737 MAX crisis, and resolving it is more than a full-time job. If owners won’t tighten oversight, regulators and politicians will.

Emperor’s new holiday tests wary Japanese shoppers

26 Apr 2019

The world's third-largest economy will take a 10-day break as the crown prince ascends to the Chrysanthemum Throne. Travel agents and malls hope for a spending spike, but this nation of workaholics may disappoint. If they do, that may delay a much-needed consumption tax hike.

GM’s mostly female board shows it can be done

25 Apr 2019

The $56 bln automaker is set to have a majority of female directors, led by CEO Mary Barra. Gender diversity is improving more quickly in Europe thanks to legal mandates. But GM has shown there are enough qualified women to fill the jobs. It can lead the U.S. charge by example.

Ross McEwan will leave RBS at its peak

25 Apr 2019

The outgoing Kiwi boss helped the loss-making lender become a profitable dividend payer. His successor will face new challenges, including a cooling economy, Brexit, fast-growing digital rivals and the risk of a political lurch to the left that may keep the bank in public hands.

Bayer shareholder revolt rests on shame factor

25 Apr 2019

BlackRock and others want to punish the German chemicals group for its takeover of Monsanto, which destroyed $33 bln of value. But the likely vote of disapproval is more bad PR than a binding order. It’s a sign of the limits of shareholder activism in Germany.

Nomura’s star rainmakers face a drier spell

25 Apr 2019

The $13 bln bank’s Japanese advisory arm had a blowout year, a bright spot in otherwise dismal earnings, thanks to mandates for SoftBank and Takeda. Yet cost cuts abroad, uncertainty around deals like Toshiba Memory's IPO and an apparent snub by Japan Post could tarnish 2019.

At least Uber investors will have a say on losses

24 Apr 2019

The ride-hailing app touts a separate chair and CEO, one vote per share and annual director elections. Rival Lyft and image-search firm Pinterest by contrast have insiders with supervoting stock and staggered boards. All lose money but only Uber shareholders can push for change.

Cox: Emmanuel Macron is succumbing to shortcuts

24 Apr 2019

The French president’s plan to close ENA, the elite school that churns out civil servants and CEOs, smacks of symbolism. So does his pledge to fix Notre-Dame in five years. Reforming the economy, like rebuilding a great cathedral, demands tough choices, not political gimmicks.

Picking the next Bank of England chief

24 Apr 2019

The hunt is on for a replacement for Governor Mark Carney, who leaves in early 2020. Breakingviews’ interactive yardstick helps sift through the runners and riders.