After 40 years of Siemens: Joe Kaeser takes stock one last time

Joe Kaeser had eventful times at Siemens. His career also took him to the United States, where his first name was shortened and the umlaut in the last name gave way. Tomorrow he will present the Dax Group's balance sheet for the last time. Kaeser is not granted an exit with shiny numbers in the corona pandemic.

Joe Kaeser is done. The outgoing Siemens boss has rebuilt the company like hardly any of his predecessors. Instead of the one large tanker Siemens, there are now at least three companies with this name: Siemens, Siemens Healthineers (medical technology) and Siemens Energy. The company has also just sold its daughter Flender.

Siemens 117.16

The shop is tidy and Kaeser is stepping down. The move from Lower Bavaria to his successor Roland Busch should take place at the Annual General Meeting in February. It would actually be time for the farewell tour. Busch has been largely in control of the operational reins since October. The annual balance sheet on Thursday is Kaeser's last one in the company that has shaped his life for decades and on which he left his mark.

Kaeser is not granted an exit with shiny numbers in the corona pandemic. But he can say that he has led Siemens through the crisis on a solid basis. There is no risk of red numbers – also because he has trimmed the company for margins in his years at the top. Kaeser rules out job cuts due to Corona, and recently there was even a bonus for employees. The payment was announced by Kaeser himself.

He doesn't regret most of the tweets

He sprinted ahead of his communications team via Twitter. He used the short message service again and again – often for topics beyond Siemens. Hardly any head of a DAX company tweets so politically. He defends the Chancellor against criticism and takes a clear position against right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism. This commitment also caused trouble for Kaeser. In 2019 he received a death threat, which the contentious manager made public on Twitter with the words "the devil has now e-mailed too".

He did not regret most of his tweets, Kaeser recently told the "Nürnberger Nachrichten". "I think it's important that you position yourself on certain issues. But then you have to live with the consequences." He also repeatedly responded to criticism of Siemens via the short message service – with shared success. The criticism of Siemens' involvement in the controversial Adani coal mining in Australia only really came to light after Kaeser had promised on Twitter to take a closer look at the matter. After a long period of reflection and a conversation with climate activist Luisa Neubauer, he finally decided that the contract had to be fulfilled – and caught a shit storm from the disappointed Adani opponents.

Kaeser wants to be liked, it is said by people who have been with him for a long time. The criticism of the climate activists should not only have pained him because of this, but also because he himself repeatedly portrays Siemens as a major climate protector who helps his customers to save huge amounts of CO2.

Kaeser has been with Siemens for 40 years. In 1980 he joined the group under the name Josef Käser. His career also took him to the USA, where his first name was shortened and the umlaut in the last name had to give way. In 2006 he became Chief Financial Officer and in 2013 Chief Executive Officer. Kaeser has experienced eventful times at Siemens: His two predecessors Klaus Kleinfeld and Peter Löscher had to vacate the Siemens executive chair early. Kaeser likes to emphasize that there is now a regular change with him.

There were always job cuts

Kaeser can be tough too. During his time there were repeatedly job reduction programs. "During his time as CEO, the focus was often on margin orientation, restructuring and downsizing as well as the division of the company," says the general works council chairwoman Birgit Steinborn. "That meant we had a number of conflicts of interest, and there were massive disputes about jobs and locations, especially in the energy sector." All in all, however, they had "negotiated objectively and at eye level" with him.

For IG Metall, too, Kaeser was "a tough, but always fair and predictable negotiating partner," as Jürgen Kerner, who sits on the union's supervisory board, says. "What brought us around the table in the end, regardless of our differences, even in major conflicts, was the endeavor to find what was best for the company and its employees – even if we differed as to how we were going to achieve this goal." And Steinborn also sees a "clear agreement" with Kaeser: "We support and share his commitment against all forms of discrimination, exclusion, hatred and nationalism at Siemens and in society."

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