The co-founder of the Swiss global market leader is unable to replace the top management of the board of directors. But Borel’s persistent attacks are leaving their mark.
Logitech has been around for over 40 years. Nevertheless, co-founder Daniel Borel fears that the world market leader for computer mice and keyboards may be running out of time. That is why the 74-year-old fought for the dismissal of Chairman of the Board Wendy Becker at the Annual General Meeting in Lausanne on Wednesday – and did not hold back on accusations: he accused her of lying, manipulation and disinformation. It is a rarely seen feud at the top of an SMI group.
The strange thing is that in twelve months Becker’s problem, if it is one, will probably resolve itself. The American woman does not want to run for re-election in 2025. But Borel is convinced that the Swiss-American company cannot afford that much time. The pace of innovation in the industry is too high for that. And Logitech may be a Ferrari, as he describes it in the interview, but Becker does not know how to drive a car.
Borel has allies – but few
Becker was not available for an interview in Lausanne. But she didn’t have to, because she won. Borel lost, albeit with a respectable victory. 86 percent of shareholders supported Becker as chairwoman of the board of directors. A year ago, 96 percent had voted for the re-election of Becker, who has been in office since 2019.
Daniel Borel has been working for months towards a palace revolution at the top of the group with over 7,000 employees. He accuses Becker of weak leadership and a lack of vision, which became conspicuous after the pandemic. The chairwoman of the board of directors, who had previously worked as a manager in the clothing industry, is a professional administrator, he wrote in a statement to shareholders. That is not enough at the moment.
This is all the more true as the new CEO, Hanneke Faber, a former Unilever manager and a sales and marketing specialist, is running the day-to-day business. More technology expertise is needed at the top, says Borel. The mix in this management duo is unprecedented. Ms. Faber needs a co-pilot.
The Ethos investment foundation and the Actares shareholders’ association had supported Borel’s view before the general meeting. This encouraged Borel despite the defeat: around a quarter of Logitech shareholders come from Switzerland. And of these, around 60 percent listened to the opinion of these Swiss proxy advisors in the vote, he argues.
The hangover after the Corona party disappears
Logitech initially benefited from a boom during the coronavirus pandemic, when employees and companies upgraded their workstations for home offices and gaming devices also sold like hot cakes. The group’s sales exploded from just under $3 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2020 to $5.5 billion in the 2021/22 fiscal year.
But the boom did not last forever, and sales fell to 4.3 billion at the end of March 2024. That is still significantly more than before the pandemic, but Borel accused the company’s management of reacting too hesitantly during the downturn and clinging to old hopes – for example, the belief in the unbridled sales of video conferencing systems. CEO Bracken Darrell left the company unexpectedly in June 2023.
Before Hanneke Faber took over the helm in December 2023, Guy Gecht led the group on an interim basis. The American has experience in Silicon Valley and previously headed the Technology Committee of the Logitech Board of Directors, of which he has been a member for five years. Gecht did the operational job well and made a good impression – also at Borel.
Wendy Becker will lead the Board of Directors for another year.
At this point the dispute became strange: Borel wanted to install Gecht instead of Becker at the head of the board of directors – but Gecht declared early on that he would not accept a possible election. Logitech therefore did not want to put Borel’s proposal on the agenda of the shareholders’ meeting. The former CEO and chairman of the board of directors, who still holds 1.7 percent of the shares, filed a lawsuit against this. And was successful in July.
Will Borel go to court again?
Gecht reiterated his opposition directly before the vote. Nevertheless, 14 percent of shareholders voted in his favor. Gecht was also not available for an interview. Theoretically, it is possible that he will run for election as president next year – without the support of Borel. He has since suggested that he might sue against the latest vote because Logitech had obstructed his counterproposal so much.
However, the operational pressure for a change in the supervisory board has eased: Since the end of 2023, the trend seems to have reversed. Logitech is growing again in both sales and operating profit and has exceeded analysts’ expectations. Market share has been gained and the share price is almost 20 percent higher than a year ago. Logitech has recently shown convincing results and strong implementation, commented Bank Vontobel.
CEO Hanneke Faber endeavored to present strategic impulses at the general meeting: Hybrid working has become established as the standard, she explained – and Logitech wants to use it to grow beyond the usual office environments. There is also a focus on gaming accessories, from steering wheels to special keyboards and headphones. Artificial intelligence is now also being used in video equipment.
Against Borel’s wishes, Faber was also elected as a normal member of the board of directors. The co-founder, who has invested 150 million Swiss francs in Logitech, admits that the company is back on solid footing. He did not want to be a spoilsport, he explained at the beginning of his statement at the quiet general meeting. But Borel is unlikely to give up either.