Logitech founder Daniel Borel has failed miserably again in his rebellion against CEO Wendy Becker. Nearly 86 percent of shareholder votes re-elected Becker as president during Wednesday’s general meeting. Borel’s opponent, Guy Gecht, received only 14 percent of all votes.
Gecht, however, withdrew himself from the race shortly before the second election. “I will not accept my election if I am elected,” he told shareholders in Lausanne. Borel also lost on another point: CEO Hanneke Faber was elected to the board of directors, which Borel, investment foundation Ethos and shareholders association Actares rejected.
Borel had already tried to force Becker out of the board last year, but failed miserably: the president was re-elected with 96 percent of the shareholder votes. Two months ago, Logitech announced that Becker would no longer be a candidate at the general meeting in the fall of 2025. But Borel wanted her to step down this year.
Numerous accusations
The company founder accused her of not having the know-how to run a tech company like Logitech. He also believes that they should have implemented austerity measures earlier after the Corona boom.
In addition, she should have replaced then-boss Bracken Darrell earlier. Moreover, the company’s development was not good and there was a toxic corporate culture, Borel claimed. The company founder wanted to replace Becker with Gecht, who was unanimously assessed as someone who did a good job as interim CEO for seven months last year.
Justice involved
The dispute escalated further and further. Even the judiciary had to intervene. At the end of July, a court in Vaud ordered the company to put Borel’s request to nominate Gecht as a candidate for chairman of the board of directors on the agenda.
Because Logitech had refused to put the proposal of the company’s founder, who owns 1.5 percent of Logitech shares, to a vote. However, Gecht already stated at that time that he did not want to become chairman of the company’s board of directors.
Also unhappy with the CEO
Borel is also unhappy with the new CEO Faber. Like Becker, she lacked ‘sufficient knowledge and experience in the high-tech industry’, Borel said repeatedly. The 55-year-old Dutch woman came over from consumer goods giant Unilever to the French-speaking Swiss group.
Faber herself was largely hesitant to make any statements. In an interview with ‘Switzerland in het Weekend’ last Saturday she said: “The numbers speak for themselves, we have had two good quarters. And I personally think we have a fantastic corporate culture, one of the best I have ever experienced.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
