Karstadt moves to action: the boss and members of the Kaufhof board must leave

economy

Friday, November 30, 2018

Kaufhof and competitor Karstadt want to finalize their merger. But business is even worse than expected. This leads to the first consequences. In Kaufhof, only the CFO Mager "survived" the merger.

The department store group Karstadt reached after the merger with the competitor Galeria Kaufhof in senior management. Apparently, all council members must undress, with one exception.

For the boss of Galeria Kaufhof, Roland Neuwald, there is no future in the group, nor for the directors Edo Beukema, Klaus Hellmich and Peter Herlitzius. According to the company, only the CFO, Guido Mager, is still at his post. "He's doing a good job," said one familiar with the procedure. Previously, the "Wirtschaftswoche" had reported the departure of Neuwald.

Neuwald is accused that his announced restructuring program "Turn to win" is well below expectations. Moreover, he has lost the confidence of the workers, without which a reorganization is not possible.

Situation in Kaufhof worse than expected

The owners of Galeria Kaufhof and its competitor Karstadt decided a few weeks ago to merge their two department store chains. The cartel office has already approved the transaction. Friday, the so-called closing follows, that is to say the formal conclusion of the transaction.

The operational management of the merged company will be taken over by Stephan Fanderl, CEO of Karstadt. Vacancies in the upper management of Galeria Kaufhof must occupy the inhabitants of Karstadt. In the business community, it was clear that Fanderl was very unhappy with the situation at Galeria Kaufhof.

The situation in the distressed giant of department stores would be even worse than expected when signing the contract at the end of the summer. The losses increase, said a person familiar with the current figures.

Source: n-tv.de