Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group won a second round in its showdown with activist investor Steven Wood on Tuesday. His candidacy for the board of directors was rejected.
The US investor, who sharply criticizes the company’s management, applied for a seat on the board of directors for the second time. However, his candidacy was rejected with 79.6 percent of the vote, as the Swiss company announced after its annual general meeting.
“The shareholders have clearly spoken out against his election,” said the Swatch Group in the statement.
Steven Wood, whose company Greenwood Investors holds 0.5 percent of the Swiss group’s capital, had already made an unsuccessful attempt last year. He was of the opinion that the board of directors needed to be renewed.
In his opinion, the company has “tremendous potential.” However, the minority shareholders have little chance of being heard on the board of directors, he wrote in his blog before the general meeting.
“Without independent oversight, fresh perspectives and balanced representation, even the best companies can begin to malfunction – like the movement of a jammed clock,” he stressed.
The company is led by Nick Hayek and chaired by Nayla Hayek. They are the heirs of the company’s founder, who rejuvenated the Swiss watch industry in the 1980s with his famous colorful plastic watch.
Steven Wood’s candidacy was supported by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which issues voting recommendations. The Ethos Foundation, which represents pension funds in Switzerland, also spoke out in favor of him.
The foundation, which regularly appears at general meetings, recalled that the “Hayek Pool” holds 26.4 percent of the capital. However, this pool, which brings together the heirs as well as related people and institutions, controls 44.5 percent of the voting rights.
The Ethos Foundation was also of the opinion that a “renewed board of directors, which has sufficient independence and a wide range of competencies, is an essential prerequisite for the sustainable success of the Swatch Group”. She announced this in a statement about her voting intentions at the end of April.
In 2025, the group, which also includes other brands such as Tissot, Longines and Omega, recorded a decline in sales of 5.9 percent to 6.28 billion Swiss francs (currently 6.85 billion euros). At the same time, net profit fell by 88.5 percent to 25 million Swiss francs.
The group, which also produces watch components, explained this decline with its intention to maintain jobs until recovery. The industry had experienced a difficult year, marked by falling demand in China and tariffs in the United States.
At the end of 2025, the watch group employed 31,796 people worldwide.
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