Word: shells
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...board at Shell knew it needed to do something, and fast. A shocking revelation in January--that the world's third largest oil company had overstated its proven petroleum reserves by 20%--was pummeling its stock price and angering shareholders. Regulators on two continents had started investigations. So in early March the board acted, ousting Philip Watts, who had been managing director of the Anglo-Dutch company for almost seven years and chairman since 2001, and replacing him with Jeroen van der Veer, president of Shell's Dutch sister company, Royal Dutch Petroleum. A quick cure for all those headaches...
Hardly. Just six days after Van der Veer took the helm, internal memos leaked to the press suggested that other top Shell executives still in office, including Van der Veer, may have known about the reserves problem as early as two years ago. Van der Veer vigorously denied the charges but failed to calm the jangled nerves of Shell's institutional investors. And so the company was forced to ask itself an unpleasant question: How many times can you fire your CEO in a year...
After an inquiry by an outside law firm, the Shell board gave what it hopes is the definitive answer: Just once. It said the probe had uncovered "disturbing deficiencies" in company practices, and announced the replacement of chief financial officer Judith Boynton. And for the third time this year, the company reduced the figure for its oil reserves. Van der Veer was spared. "We have complete and unreserved confidence in [his] leadership," the board said, although the internal inquiry handed further ammunition to a swarm of U.S. lawyers who have filed class actions against the firm. Shell said the company...
Really? Some of Shell's biggest shareholders aren't satisfied. Peter Montagnon, head of investment affairs at the Association of British Insurers, which includes some of Britain's biggest institutional investors, says Shell needs to put in place "a governance arrangement that provides for proper accountability and no longer tolerates chronic underperformance...
Boardroom drama like that at Shell is becoming more common in Europe. Being a chief executive officer these days is a bit like being on a reality-TV show: no one knows who will get voted out next. In the past month alone, London-based SSL International, maker of Durex condoms and Scholl foot products, replaced its CEO. German tech company Infineon unexpectedly lost its blunt-speaking CEO, Ulrich Schumacher. He said he was leaving for "personal reasons," but it's clear that the board and shareholders were dissatisfied with the company's performance. An interim chief, Max Dietrich Kley...