FRANKFURT: The supervisory board of BMW will meet on July 18-19 to decide on the future of group CEO Harald Krueger, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Thursday.
Krueger’s term is due to expire in May 2020 and it is customary for German companies to communicate a year before expiry whether a board member’s contract will be extended. However, Handelsblatt, citing unnamed sources, said that a decision on Krueger’s contract had been pushed back to July.
If Krueger’s contract is not extended, there are two internal frontrunners for the top job, though there has been no formal decision, the paper reported.
One is Klaus Froehlich, head of development, and the other is Oliver Zipse, head of production, Handelsblatt said. Both currently sit on the management board. BMW declined to comment.
The board meeting is scheduled to take place at BMW’s factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Handelsblatt reported.
BMW, which has lost the position of biggest selling luxury brand to Mercedes, expects group pretax profit to fall by more than 10% this year.
