“There comes a time in every man’s life when he must make way for an older man.” Those parting words – scornfully delivered by a sacked member of the British shadow cabinet in the 1970s – must have been ringing in the ears of at least three ousted European CEOs in recent weeks. Jean-Marie Messier of Vivendi Universal, Ron Sommer of Deutsche Telekom and Thomas Middelhof of Bertelsmann will not be the last rock-star CEOs to go, but all three have been replaced by their seniors: Messier by former Rhône-Poulenc head Jean-Rene Fourtou (aged 63); Sommer by Deutsche Telekom management and supervisory board veteran Helmut Sihler (72); and Middelhof by Bertelsmann stalwart Gunter Thielen (59).
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