Downfall of Nestlé CEO fired for secret affair began with anonymous tip to employee hotline

The collapse of the ongoing Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe began with an anonymous clue about his relationship with an Employee AST.

In the spring, the 63 -year -old company began to emerge about the company’s relationship with a marketing manager on the Internal Aid Line. Wall Street Journal reports.

Employees are encouraged to use the help line to report any ‘incompatibility concerns’, and the world’s largest food and beverage company must explain personal relationships of employees under the rules of business behavior.

The aim is to avoid any conflict in the company and to manage a conflict if it occurs.

Shortly after the reports arrived from the help line, Nestlé President Paul Bulcke received a letter that detares Freixe’s alleged relationship in May.

It is unclear who may have sent the letter or in particular.

However, after receiving reports on the letter and the internal aid line, company executives began to investigate their communication with Freixe’s unidentified marketing worker in the center of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

This internal investigation could not find any evidence to establish a relationship, a spokesman told the magazine, and Friexe and the woman refused to have a few people in Nestlé.

The Swiss -based company encourages employees to report ‘incompatibility concerns’ to the helping line of speaking employees

It seems that the problem died in summer.

However, the company started to receive questions about the alleged incident from the media and at the end of July, Zurich -centered finance blog in paradeplatz Unidentified female employee’s marketing career was reported.

He said that the marketing manager joined Nestlé as a management intern in the early 2000s and met Freixe in 2022 in the center of the company in Vevey.

About 18 months later, Freixe became the Vice President of Marketing for the United States while running this section. Although this is not confirmed, he is suspected of personally approved the promotion.

Nevertheless, Freixe refused to be an unexplained relationship.

Later, at least one more report came through the Speakup channel – and Bulcke and the Board of Directors decided to bring foreign researchers from the legal firm Bär & Karer to review Freixe’s personal data, including text messages and photos.

While Freixe was still under control, Freixe hugged the clear evidence of a sincere relationship between CEO and subordinates.

Last week, he met with analysts and investors in London, Frankfurt and Zurich and joined the Chief Finance Manager at an investor promotion trip last week.

At the last minute, Nestlé asked for a home from the British Banking Giant Barclays at the consumer-staples conference in Boston.

In 2022, Freixe met the marketing manager in which the company had a relationship in the center of Vevey.

As CEO, Freix tried to focus the company again in basic brands such as Freix and Nescafé Instant Coffee

Nevertheless, those who knew Freixe said they wondered if the investigation was more serious than the initially allowed the company because they noticed a change in the body language.

The concerns were correct when the company announced on Monday that Freixe had been terminated from its business.

Bulcke said in a statement, “ This was a necessary decision, ” he said. ‘Nestlé’s values ​​and governance are the strong foundations of our company. I would like to thank Laurent for serving for years. ‘

Freixe took over Mark Schneider, who served as the general manager of the company for seven years but continued to sell products in Russia after the occupation of Ukraine.

The French was the vocal critic of his predecessor and claimed that Nestlé has lost his way with acquisitions in recent years and showed a lot of diversity in product series.

As CEO, Freixe tried to focus on focus on core brands such as Freixe, its company Nescafé Instant Coffee, Kitkat bars and fantasy Feast Cat Food.

In addition, it has reduced the cost of re -investing in more promising products such as cold coffee, as it has brought all regional business presidents to the Swiss center.

Phil Navratil, the boss of a coffee section, will take over as the company’s next leader.

Navratil was the CEO of Nespresso’s latest

Nevertheless, Freixe’s reign was marked with a 1.8 percent decrease in global sales due to increasing production costs for sugary and caffeinated products from Central America.

As the price -sensitive consumers seek cheaper alternatives, Nestle’s shares, a cornerstone of the Swiss Stock Exchange, have lost almost one third of its values ​​in the last five years and have performed low European peers.

Freixe’s appointment could not stop the slide by decreasing 17 percent during the company’s shares leadership, and even if the company continued to dominate the supermarket shelves in the USA, it disappointed investors.

Now, many of them hopes that Philipp Navratil, who was born in Switzerland, will reversed 49 -year -old works.

In 2001, Navratil began Nestlé as an internal auditor.

He served as the CEO of Nespresso’s last Nespresso and joined the company’s executive committee in January.

In his previous position, Navratil has committed to maintaining Freixe’s strategy to focus on the brand in its rooted products.

Patriarch Schwemann, an analyst at Zurich Cantonel Bank, turned into Schneider’s’ a clean breath from outside ‘and Freixe’ called and tested Nestle recipes.

‘Philipp Navratil should bring a clean breath from the inside,’ Schwentimann He told Business Times.

Nestlé continued to rule the United States supermarkets

The company is known for its grab and git products like Lean Kitchen Frozen Meals

Nevertheless, Navratil’s appointment is coming in a difficult time for a few scandals in recent years.

Bulcke was accused of harassment as a CEO between 2008-2016. Now he will resign as president in April and instead of the Spanish fashion retailer Inditex’s former CEO Pablo Isla will receive.

The information plane Yasmine Motarjemi said Nestlé claimed that he warned about safety problems in baby food and aims to retaliate.

The company settled in 2020 by paying him about $ 2.5 million.

Freixe reacts angrily on LinkedIn: ‘What a hypocrisy! In other words, you can harass your subordinates in Nestlé, but you cannot love them. ‘

Navratil should also create its own way, in which investors should involve the company weakening, reduce costs, and first of all to reduce the number of personnel.

It is also very important that the company increases organic growth in order to increase volumes.

AJ Bell Investment Director Russian Mold, the company will now face a period of uncertainty, he said.

“Although Navratil is an internal appointment, he will want to put his own track in the strategy, and this shows that the clock can be reset when it comes to a return plan, ” he said.