Management & Leadership

Ken Chenault a mediocre but tough act to follow

18 Oct 2017

The Amex boss is to leave after 17 years in charge. He survived a credit bust, an activist and losing the firm’s biggest client, Costco. But total return under his tenure lagged rivals. That may seem an easy target for new CEO Squeri to beat. But fintech will be his bugbear.

Tootsie Roll bet could leave return cavity

18 Oct 2017

Hedge fund Spruce Point reckons the secretive confectionary firm may be worth half its $2 bln value. The short seller may have a point. But Tootsie Roll’s future rests on the health of octogenarian CEO and major shareholder Ellen Gordon. Betting against candy in general is safer.

Sexual harassment forces way into the board room

18 Oct 2017

Harvey Weinstein’s movie studio is in tatters. Mighty Amazon is wrestling with the fallout from alleged misbehavior of a top executive. They're not alone. The mistreatment of women has swiftly moved from an HR issue to a serious business risk deserving of attention from the top.

Danone’s chair-CEO blend leaves sour taste

18 Oct 2017

Boss Emmanuel Faber is taking on both roles three years after the yoghurt maker split them. Yet shareholders are increasingly unhappy with such poor corporate governance at French companies. And with an activist to contend with, the board’s decision looks complacent.

Blame for Deutsche Bank woe extends beyond CEO

16 Oct 2017

Reports of boardroom tension at the German bank are adding to unease among investors already rattled by a sliding share price. While boss John Cryan may be in the firing line, Chairman Paul Achleitner helped set the strategy. He shares some responsibility for the bank’s malaise.

Time for Barclays to sever its U.S. cards arm

10 Oct 2017

CEO Jes Staley has a conundrum: the UK bank’s market value is so depressed investors are essentially getting the U.S. credit card business for free, according to Breakingviews calculations. Spinning off the unit would make Barclays less complex and help it to a richer valuation.

P&G scores hollow victory over Nelson Peltz

10 Oct 2017

The $234 bln toiletries firm says the activist has lost his fight for a board seat. Peltz says the vote is too close to call. Either way, the narrow margin should be a wake-up call for P&G’s insular leaders, even if change comes hard for them. Expect Peltz to stick around.

Disney chief’s priorities are out of whack

9 Oct 2017

The $155 bln media firm is wrestling with major industry changes as more consumers ditch pricey cable service. Yet Bob Iger is increasingly weighing in on political issues like gun control, sparking speculation he’ll run for office. That’s fine – but not on Disney’s time.

Harvey Weinstein saga will leave filthy handprints

9 Oct 2017

Ejecting a misbehaving boss, as the U.S. film studio just did, is never simple. Corporate cultures are the offspring of their founders. While their departures can kick off a cleanup, vital skills exit with them. It's a problem enterprises like Uber and Fox are grappling with too.

HSBC’s next challenge is how to grow responsibly

9 Oct 2017

The global bank wants insider John Flint to replace CEO Stuart Gulliver, according to the Sunday Times. If approved, he will take over a slimmed-down lender trading at 1.2 times book value. Investors now want growth – but Flint and Chairman Mark Tucker should heed past mistakes.

New Ericsson chair half-solves governance problems

9 Oct 2017

Ronnie Leten had a successful eight-year run at Atlas Copco. His arrival as chairman of the embattled Swedish telecom group will help make up for the CEO’s relative lack of experience. But both men’s links to long-term shareholder Investor AB make a radical overhaul less likely.

Cox: P&G counting on an investor electoral college

6 Oct 2017

There's no strong reason for the insular consumer-goods titan to deny Nelson Peltz a board seat. Hedge funds will back him, but as in U.S. elections only half the retail shares may vote. That leaves Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street to play Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Yahoo’s corpse keeps festering at Verizon

5 Oct 2017

Marni Walden, a possible candidate to lead the U.S. telco, is leaving. She was also in charge of buying the internet firm, which just tripled its tally of customer accounts exposed to an earlier hack. Even if the timing is coincidence, Yahoo’s troubles continue to cast a pall.

Greg Fleming returns rich as Rockefeller

4 Oct 2017

The ex-Morgan Stanley exec is back on Wall Street in a venture with the legendary New York dynasty. The new advisory and money-management firm for the ultra-wealthy is small by Fleming’s standards. But he has found an ideal brand to target a fast-growing $60 trln market.

Nestlé can pre-empt Dan Loeb with refreshed board

3 Oct 2017

The Kit Kat maker’s directors are light on consumer and digital expertise. Half of them are Swiss, a market worth just 2 percent of sales. Nestlé’s latest revamp plans are far from radical, and the activist may next seek boardroom changes. The company could beat him to it.

Two rights at Uber in danger of making a wrong

2 Oct 2017

Travis Kalanick's newly appointed directors add useful expertise to a flawed board. And the effort by incumbents to limit the ousted founder's power as part of a deal to raise capital from SoftBank also makes sense. Both stand to lose if they dig in too firmly against each other.

Ryanair’s cheapskate reputation is its best asset

29 Sep 2017

Angry customers and an irate regulator might pose an existential threat for most companies. Not the budget airline. Cancelling 20,000 flights will cost it a little in compensation and slower growth. As long as travellers favour discount fares, though, its planes will remain full.

Southern Europe may miss Wolfgang Schaeuble

27 Sep 2017

Germany’s finance minister is ready to step down to become the head of the lower house of parliament. An insistence on budget discipline made him popular at home but reviled in crisis-hit euro zone countries. His replacement may come from a party that takes an even tougher line.

Italian banks become unlikely governance converts

26 Sep 2017

UniCredit will give its board authority to propose directors. Mediobanca has taken similar steps. This reflects the loss of power of foundations and investor blocks. Broader shareholder representation could make banks healthier, if boards resist the urge to feather their nests.

Equifax can’t even oust its failed CEO effectively

26 Sep 2017

Rick Smith is "retiring," as the euphemism goes, after a massive cyber attack and fumbled response - and with little financial penalty. The interim management plan makes clear the board hadn't planned succession adequately either. Equifax needs regime change at every level.