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Their regrets are greater than they can express in words: In the middle of the Thyssen-Krupp headquarters in Essen, employees hung a white banner saying, "Thank you! Heinrich "stands up, with a drawn blue heart on top
Heinrich Hiesinger, 58, had surprisingly resigned as CEO last week, after seven years in power, and as a reason he gave Different views on the strategic direction of the company.Hiesinger was under strong pressure from two major shareholders, who demanded a faster pace in the transformation of the group.The supervisory board was also strongly opposed the merger of the steel divisions of the Indian group Tata and Thyssen-Krupp
Now the financial director Guido Kerkhoff heads the group of billionaires for the moment.The supervisory board decided unanimously to appoint the Chairman of the Board of Directors, aged 50, on Friday, he is expected to lead the company's fortunes until the supervisory board has completed the process of finding a new board of directors. uccessor for Hiesinger Kerkhoff is a long-time friend of Hiesinger. He was instrumental in the negotiations for the merger of Steel with competitor Tata Steel. In 2011, Kerkhoff moved from Deutsche Telekom to Thyssen-Krupp.
The workforce is furious and disappointed
Hiesinger is after the boss of Deutsche Bank John Cryan, the boss Volkswagen's Matthias Müller and Beiersdorf CEO Stefan Heidenreich is the fourth CEO of a Dax group that will participate this year. Here Hiesinger was loved by his colleagues and the manpower, almost adored. Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Ulrich Lehner, called his decision "smart, modest, consistent" and raised a few days later, in a "time" interview, serious allegations against shareholders. Some have paths that "can sometimes be described as psychoterrorists". By that he meant "putting untruths in public, unjustified resignations from boring neighbors and family members."
Some investors knew that managers who wanted to get rid of them would need more late from a psychiatric treatment. Lehner's statements are interpreted as an attack on the shareholders Cevian and Elliott. Cevian is after the Krupp Foundation, which owns 21% of Thyssen Krupp, with just under 14 percent, the second-largest shareholder. The Elliott hedge fund, behind the American billionaire Paul Singer, invested only in May and immediately demanded the resignation of Hiesinger. Elliott is known to put mbadive pressure on management.
As if that was not enough of the turbulence, the 160,000 workers publicly expressed their anger – not addressed to financial investors, but to their own foundation: "We are sad, disappointed and angry," says Employee's open letter to work Ursula Gather. "Sorry, because we lost a fair and just business leader." Disappointed, because the foundation failed in its main mission to preserve the legacy of Alfried Krupp. Angry because you Did not personally support the man Berthold Beitz helped to save our business, as he deserved. "Staff confidence in the foundation was lost.
Even Politics Engage
Since 1968, the foundation has been managing the legacy of company founder Alfried Krupp, and in particular his involvement in the steel industry. From the recipes, she promotes culture and science. For decades, Berthold Beitz had led the foundation. After his death in 2013, Gather, who is full-time rector of the University of Dortmund, took over. According to the law, it is the task of the foundation to maintain the unity of the company. The allegation of the employees' letter: At the decisive meeting of the Supervisory Board on June 29, Gather had indeed voted for Hiesinger's project to outsource the steel business into a joint venture with the company. Indian Tata and therefore to obtain at least one conglomerate. But she has not convinced enough behind Hiesinger and the chairman of the Supervisory Board Ulrich Lehner, is the charge.
The meeting of the control committee also triggered the departure of René Obermann, former head of Telekom. He had voted against the joint venture and had been heavily criticized internally for it. The upheavals have become so important that the policy comes in: Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, met on Thursday with the board of directors and the IG Metall union – and warned against a quick break . "We want long-term development and no short-term recovery," said the CDU politician. There must be a broad consensus for the future strategy. The Krupp Foundation, whose board of directors Laschet, the unions, the board of directors, the majority shareholder Cevian and other stakeholders should discuss. "Everyone must return to objectivity," he warned. "We have a great responsibility here." with dpa / rtr
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