Numerous management positions at large listed companies were filled in 2023. The markets were quite surprised by some of them.
• Numerous surprising leadership changes
• Backgrounds are diverse: takeovers, affairs or family
• Reasons were not always disclosed
Among the leadership changes at German companies in 2023, the one at thyssenkrupp stood out in particular: In April, CEO Martina Merz asked the supervisory board to discuss a mutual termination of her mandate. Thyssen did not provide any information about the reasons for the resignation request, but it is no secret that the change came in difficult times. Just a month earlier, Merz had defended her plan to outsource the traditional steel division from the group before a special meeting of the supervisory board.
At least a successor was quickly found in Miguel López. The German-born Spaniard, whose full name is Miguel Ángel López Borrego, was previously interim head of the automotive supplier NORMA and now has a three-year contract with thyssenkrupp.
Backing up the chairs at SDAX companies
As a result, the connection technology specialist NORMA Group had to look for a new boss and found him in Guido Grandi. At the end of 2022, Michael Schneider left the NORMA board early. The company initially filled the vacant top position with an interim solution in the form of Miguel López.
In addition, the software provider SUSE surprisingly received a new CEO after CEO Melissa Di Donato resigned from her position. Under her leadership, the company went public, but the success story it had hoped for did not materialize. Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen, who, according to the company, has many years of experience in the software industry, is now supposed to do better.
Sensational leadership changes in Europe
There were also surprises for some European companies in 2023. In Switzerland, the major bank UBS announced its next coup just a few days after it announced its billion-dollar takeover of Credit Suisse, which was in dire straits after several scandals: the bank took over Sergio Ermotti back at the top. Ermotti from Ticino had already led UBS for nine years.
In September, BP boss Bernard Looney resigned with immediate effect. The company veteran had been BP boss since the beginning of 2020 and had driven the transformation of one of the world’s largest oil companies into the age of post-fossil fuels. Most recently, Looney withdrew some of the most ambitious goals and increased spending on oil and natural gas again. Ultimately, his downfall was “that he was not completely transparent in his earlier statements,” as BP said in its justification. He did not fully disclose relationships with colleagues.
Surprises in the USA too
There was also a surprising shift in chairs at some US companies, such as the electric truck manufacturer Nikola. In the summer, Tesla’s rival surprisingly announced that Stephen Girsky would become its new Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect. He replaced Michael Lohscheller, who had decided to resign for family reasons and would return to Europe, as Nikola announced in a press release.
The meme stock GamaStop also hit the headlines again in the summer, but this time with a surprising change of boss. Major shareholder Ryan Cohen is now at the helm. No reason was given for the departure of previous CEO Matt Furlong, but the US retail chain for computer games and entertainment software has been in difficult waters for some time. Changing gamer behavior and the corona pandemic forced GamaStop to close hundreds of stores and switch to online trading.
The fact that the powerful media mogul Rupert Murdoch resigned as head of the US Fox Group and the publisher News Corp also caused a stir. The 92-year-old handed over management to his son Lachlan Murdoch, who had worked with his father in the media company for many years and will now continue to run it in his spirit.
Although Alibaba is a Chinese company, its shares are listed on the NYSE. After eight years at the helm of the online giant, Daniel Zhang was surprisingly replaced. Eddie Wu, a companion of Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, now heads one of China’s largest companies. He was one of the first programmers and chief technology officer of the Chinese online giant when it was founded in 1999. Most recently, before his rise to the top of the group, he was responsible for the core business areas Taobao and Tmall.
Editorial team finanzen.net
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