thyssenkrupp continues to be a organisation in a decided state of change The ceo of its Steel division, Andreas Goss, now appears to be on his way out of the company.
German media had picked up the news, originally spread by Essen-based daily WAZ, on Tuesday evening, citing insiders as saying that Goss and the company will be parting ways. This has now been confirmed to Kallanish by parent company thyssenkrupp AG.
This latest turn of events comes as an encore to the recent cancellation of the merger of tk Steel with TataSteel Europe, a joint venture which Goss had been designated to lead. tk AG’s wording suggests that this time the break is being instigated by the company itself, and makes a link to the merger failure. “Given that the joint venture with Tata Steel cannot come about, our ambition now is to set up thyssenkruppSteel Europe as fit for the future. In this context. talks are under way with Mr Goss about the termination of his contract.”
Analysts contacted by Kallanish expressed their surprise about the company’s statement, given that “… the failure of the merger was not Goss’s fault – at least not in a way that’s visible,” one says. Another one admits that he was “… totally bewildered” by the news. “thyssenkrupp has enough open construction sites, so why open another one,” he says.
Goss, who had been the UK general manager of Siemens AG before he came to tk Steel five years ago, has a reputation as a tough but effective manager. One analyst draws the comparison with the ceo of tk Elevators, arguably the group’s moist successful unit. “Goss and (Andreas) Schierenbeck were the tk managers that have done a good job in recent years,” he says.
