Nestlé has dismissed its chief executive, Laurent Freixe, after an investigation into an “undisclosed romantic relationship” with a subordinate that breached its code of business conduct. The Swiss-headquartered multinational named Philipp Navratil as his replacement.
Freixe’s departure after 40 years at the company followed an investigation overseen by chair Paul Bulcke and lead independent director Pablo Isla, with the support of outside counsel, into the relationship with a direct subordinate. “This was a necessary decision,” said Bulcke. “Nestlé’s values and governance are strong foundations of our company. I thank Laurent for his years of service.”
Freixe took over the chief executive role in September last year after Nestlé ousted his predecessor, Mark Schneider. Bulcke, who is set to step down as chair next year, said Navratil was “recognised for his impressive track record of achieving results in challenging environments” and that “we are not changing course on strategy and we will not lose pace on performance.”
Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 as an internal auditor. After holding various commercial roles in Central America, he was appointed country manager for Nestlé Honduras in 2009. He assumed leadership of the coffee and beverage business in Mexico in 2013, and transitioned to Nestlé’s coffee strategic business division in 2020. He moved to Nespresso in July 2024, and joined Nestlé’s executive board on 1 January this year.
The dismissal follows a similar case at BP in September 2023, when chief executive Bernard Looney resigned after failing to reveal relationships with colleagues. Looney was subsequently formally dismissed for serious misconduct and denied more than £32m in pay and share awards. BP later introduced a policy requiring employees to disclose intimate relationships with colleagues or risk losing their jobs.
