not good news....  http://www.business.dk/article/20080110/borsnyt/80110064/

it came today in a stock exchange notification.

Christian

(speechless)

 

Not completely surprising with some of the recent output of products (and their teething problems) and share price drops

Does anyone know who is being lined up to succeed?

Quote from Reuters UK:

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The company shed more than a quarter of its market value on Wednesday amid a steep drop in profits.

The company said the board of directors wanted to refocus on B&O's core business of quality audio and video products.

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sounds like bad news alltogether, something to do with the other topic? B&O 29 per cent down ? sales sufficiently up, but profit's not up enough ?

An interview with him now would make interesting reading!

WHAT, that is really unexpected to me... is that what it says is it?! I can't read the article... wow.

How does a CEO get sacked?? 

And here it is in english http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-news/item.do?newsId=57266947003376 

Apparently he's now favourite for the Newcastle Utd. Job

Peter for President !!

I'll be your campaign manager. Can i have the office that overlooks the fields (not to worried about the sheep)

Lee

 

9 LEE:

Peter for President !!

I'll be your campaign manager. Can i have the office that overlooks the fields (not to worried about the sheep)

Lee

 

No but the sheep are worried about you!

This is supposed to be a serious thread.  I've got my black armband on here!

This is not good news, I'm in shock.
Let's hope Beoworld can cement a good relationship with his replacement.

Andy T.

I'm sure we can/will.

Shame, as i really liked Torben - he was a lovely guy!

Lee

 

Maybe a Monday Poll in his honour....

 

It is a strange world where football habits become part of the business world. Is CEO responsible for the result? In the end he must be, but instead of changing the players the coach has to go - the fastest one to replace. Now they need external advice to find someone new....

The designers and technicians need to get themselves successors...

Not all, but some. I enjoy my B&O a lot, but the current range seems to be not as one big family with with best interoperability (e.g. network)... all has been discussed on this forum a lot of times.

For me most important woud be multimedia station - music, pics, movies - that can be put away on the (Masterlink?)network and controlled via B&O TVs/Audiosets (in Linkrooms, too).

Well, just some thoughts, felt like having to write this...

Ralf

THE END IS COMING ! Look at the new products ! The spirit is lost ! The typical customer has not anymore this strong demand to own a product.

excellent news , i always said the guy was a ****

slagging off apple was a truly dumb move as well

steve jobs should buy bno as his 2nd hobby , get jonathon ive in as head designer , put lewis in to retirement , bring back jacob jensen and we're off ! 

I really am very sad about this. I think he gave a face to the top management at B&O which was approachable and one felt he was an enthusiast, like us. He wrote personally to me a couple of times in very kind terms and I have a huge amount of respect for him. I wish him every success in whatever he plans for the future and would suggest that any company would be the better for having him. I do hope that his removal will not see B&O retreat into the inward looking company that they have been in the past.

In Denmark analysts and investors are surprised by the firing, and consider it an overreaction by the board -- one analyst stating that it was the wrong signal to send now (after all - B&O isn't losing money), and that it will be very difficult to find a replacement for him quickly. (But who knows, they may have someone lined up already?)

This is a difficult time (decade) for B&O. The technological evolution has been moving so quickly the last few years that B&O are having difficulties keeping up. The pace is ruthless and will continue to be so. Last month's / year's technology is obsolete the next month / year and this makes it incredibly hard for B&O to continue to produce quality products. We all now how much time and effort B&O needs for bringing a product to market and maintaining their superior level of quality.

http://www.business.dk/article/20080110/borsnyt/80110064/ 

In the above article the B&O board underlines that they now want the overall focus moved back to the B&O core business: producing quality Audio & Video products.

When was focus away from this? I mean .. we can always discuss how successful or unsuccessful B&O has been with their newest products .. the quality .. the features .. and the lack off, etc - but I cannot understand how the board can say "move the focus back on quality audio and video products" .. it is not like under TBS B&O deliberaly stopped focus on quality ...

I hope they sort this mess soon ... and gets a new chairman at the same time

Christian 

I think what they mean by "going back to quality audio & video" is: do "real" B&O products again, not rebadged stuff like DVD2, BeoSound 6, or products bearing 2 company logos (see what I mean?).

Still, I feel sorry that TBS was fired, you always need a scapegoat when things go wrong, he had to be the one..But on the other hand, the past has shown that B&O always needed some desperate hours to wake up and come back with great products and longer-term strategies.

I am not really shocked, but more surprised. To me, this only shows, that B&O are trying to improve and that they thought he was no more the right guy for reasons I don't know. Let's just hope they will keep David Lewis!

Chrisreunion:

But on the other hand, the past has shown that B&O always needed some desperate hours to wake up and come back with great products and longer-term strategies.

 Yeh, I remember in the 1920's.....

No, seriously, what are you referring to? Did they struggle before because of lack to products or strategy or because of world wide economic issues....?

Ralf

I have not really followed b&o developments for that long but having read a recent interview with him for The Times (I think) and I also think there was a feed from this site to it, I am not really that surprised. I know it would be silly to make an opinion based upon one article. However, he was presented as rather detatched from the reality of running B&O. I do not know for how long he has been at the helm and as a consequence most of my statements maybe polemic. However there seem to be fundemental mistakes made in the design of some of B&Os product offerings for quite some time.

 Namely why was the Beosound 1 not equiped with a DAB tuner? Same with Beosound 3. Also Beocentre 1, if I am to believe a review I read earlier (having never seen one in "the flesh") it is quite silly to produce a TV that you cannot adjust colour properties etc.

When questioned about the DAB issue with Beosound 3 it appeared as if he was embaressed but seemed a little nonplussed as if such a massive flaw was no real issue!

kallasr:

Chrisreunion:

But on the other hand, the past has shown that B&O always needed some desperate hours to wake up and come back with great products and longer-term strategies.

 Yeh, I remember in the 1920's.....

No, seriously, what are you referring to? Did they struggle before because of lack to products or strategy or because of world wide economic issues....?

Ralf

The company has faced challenges before. In the mid-60s it was cheap electronics from Japan. This cut a swathe through many electronics companies, and B&O survived by aligning themselves with cutting edge industrial designers (Jacob Jensen foremost among them). This gave their products the distinction required to stand out from the Japanese boxes. Akio Morita (founder of SONY) actually had B&O in his private residence and office as a challenge to his people.

Then in the late 90s there was another crunch, which actually resulted in Ballegaard Sørensen being hired in 2001 I believe. The company had overexpanded in the US, and was caught by the crunch that followed the dot-com meltdown. Ballegaard Sørensen came in and resurrected the business -- and it's important to keep in mind that it's today's irrational exuberance in the stock market that has resulted in investors dropping the share: B&O is making money, and has done really well under Ballegaard Sørensen -- but the world economic market is contracting sharply now, as consumers are losing confidence, and brands such as B&O are among the first to be hit. If you don't deliver to investors' high expectations, you're in trouble, even if you're making a profit ...