Nestlé fires CEO because he has a relationship with employee

The Swiss food group Nestlé has deducted CEO Laurent Freixe with immediate effect. The step follows on an investigation into an unexpected “romantic relationship” Freixes with an employee directly subordinate to him, as the company in Vevey announced. This violated Freixe internal guidelines. The successor will be Philipp Navratil, who has previously headed the Nespresso group and is sitting in the group management. Under the direction of the Swiss Austrian dual national, the manufacturer of Maggi and Kitkat wants to stick to the previous strategy and also in the financial goals.

“This was a necessary decision,” said Chairman of the Board of Directors Paul Bulcke. “Nestlés values ​​and governance form the solid foundation of our company.” According to a person familiar with the situation, Nestle was already pointed out to the relationship in spring via an internal whistleblower hotline. An internal examination did not show any evidence that Freixe himself had denied that he maintained a relationship with an assumed one. After an external examination and other internal reports, Nestle then acted, according to the person. Freixe does not receive a leaving package, said a company spokesman.

Navratil has been with Nestlé for 24 years. He started his career at the company in 2001 in the internal revision. A year ago he was appointed Nespresso boss. Navratil has been in the group management since the beginning of January.

The new boss change comes to the group at the time. Freixes predecessor had to leave the company after Nestle missed destinations and lost support from investors and employees. Investors are also dissatisfied with a bulk, which will make room for the former Inditex manager Pablo Isla in 2026. The company veteran Freixe should have steered Nestle into calmer waters and boost growth again. He has not yet convinced the investors properly. With a good CHF 75, the share is located well below the maximum of almost CHF 130 in early 2022. In the same period, the arch -rival Unilever and Danone increased significantly.

Navratil now wants to counteract. “I look forward to working with the entire corporate management and in close coordination with the board of directors, President Paul Bulcke and the designated President Pablo Isla, accelerating the implementation of our strategy and driving our value creation intensively,” said the 1976, born.

Analysts reacted critically. “We are disappointed that the new CEO is currently forced to continue the strategy of its predecessor, even though the market doubts about their success in view of the historically low stock assessment of Nestlé,” said the experts from the U.S. Grandbank JPmorgan. With the change of change again, the question of the medium -term orientation of the company should continue to smolder until more about the plans of Navratil.

Nestlé with around 277,000 employees is the largest food group in the world. According to its own statements, the company sells more than 2,000 brands in 185 countries and has a stock market value of more than 200 billion euros. The share price had developed weakly in recent years, which criticized investors.

Freixe is not the first company boss that stumbles over an affair this year. In July, the then CEO of the US tech company Astronomer, Andy Byron, declared his resignation. Previously, his liaison was blown into an employee at a Coldplay concert by a so-called Kiss cam.