On Friday June 10, a journalist friend from the NYT Skyped me to give me an advance news. “They took out Whirlpool CEO Jeff Fettig. He remained chairman of the board of directors but to have the baton of command since October 1st as general manager, as you say as managing director, is his right-hand man, Marc Bitzer. He succeeded, we all comment in a whisper." How did he do it? “Well, Bitzer, he's a German-Swiss, very very good, but let's also say ruthless, ruthless, and he's the first non-American CEO. A bomb, yes, being able to get from European to the top of the world No. 2 for household appliances, has never happened. But we've all been waiting for it for a long time. And he too had been waiting for it for a long time. Here I am". Disrespectful, super informed, but always precise, the colleague added a lot of other very spicy information. Which will promptly occur because the changing of the guard that he had told me well in advance has occurred. It also happened for other previews that he had given me in the past.
“INDESIT COMES VICTORIOUS FROM THE ACQUISITION”
I don't think it's super news if everyone expects it – I objected – more than anything else even in Europe we were wondering after the blow to Indesit wanted by Bitzer, that Fettig at 60 would still have left his operational role, obviously keeping the so-called decorative one. “Oh no, it's not like that – he says – there's much more behind it and it concerns you closely. Indeed, here we have not been able to explain how for the umpteenth time you are so provincial. Don't you understand that it is Bitzer who has held the strings of the whole Indesit operation and that he has a deadly project that concerns you closely? Damn up close." Shiver down my spine, because I'm one of the very few journalists that the man with the steely gaze and the boundless financial ability has met him, talked to him, knows him and follows him from afar, it's true, but he always follows him. And I know the NYT colleague is right. “The Indesit operation is different from what it appears to be, the best outcome is Indesit and its management,” the colleague continues. No, here we think exactly the opposite. “Here, provincial once again, it's not like that, try to count the Whirlpool managers who are no longer there….and count those who have been diverted from Indesit to Whirlpool“.
AND NOW WHAT HAPPENS?
What does the NYT colleague (who knows Italy and the small Italian journalistic circle) and two other fellow correspondents of European financial newspapers say? “That Bitzer, at the end of 2018, when the moratorium on possible layoffs expires, will in any case proceed without hesitation on a path that is very difficult for you. Well, guys, try to analyze Bitzer's path carefully”. President Emea, still, North America and chief operating officer of the group, that is someone who has for years been the manager who knows the entire group best, who like no one else knows what he must do to restore profits and shareholders. The shareholders asked him for it, investing him with a special role. That is, to return without any hesitation to rich incomes, especially as regards Europe. What about the transfer of the European headquarters from Varese to Rho? “Bitzer, he had decided for some time, but why is the headquarters smaller than the one on Lake Varese? I've seen it and it's obvious. So? why move?” Yes, I say, why? “Probably not definitive location? Maybe, as Haier which had its European headquarters in Varese then moved it to Paris, we'll see”. Pure wickedness. Or not?
CHARACTERS
Just to know; Jeff Fettig is 60 years old, Marc Bitzer is 52, the turnover of Whirlpool, the 2nd world manufacturer of household appliances after Haier, was 2016 billion dollars in 21 with 93 employees. And Bitzer joined the company in 1999, working his way up from non-top positions to the highest levels. The tough Bitzer has come a long way….
Source: Paula's house
