By Heather McLean, 15 July 2002 14:25
NEWS The German government has put forward its preferred candidate to replace Deutsche Telekom (DT) CEO Ron Sommer. The government will tomorrow need to win over the company's board with a two-thirds majority vote to oust Sommer, and install their preferred candidate, DT management board member Gerd Tenzer. However, Sommer is determined not to leave the company without a fight, even though many German investors dislike him after his expansion plans left the business with a $66bn debt mountain. The government has to get the support of DT's strong trade unions which hold 10 of its 20 supervisory board seats. Last week, the board's union leaders backed Sommer in public along with over 20,000 employees at the debt-ridden business. However, the outcome of tomorrow's meeting could go either way. Despite their vote of confidence in Sommer last week, the unions may go for the government's man, who is a company insider and therefore less likely to make cutbacks.
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