The meltdown at Nestlé

Nestlé’s annual “All In” all-company meeting on Wednesday was an awkward one. The famously buttoned-down Swiss conglomerate has been beset by scandal that in just two weeks has unseated both its chief executive and chair. Yet when outgoing chair Paul Bulcke spoke virtually to up to 277,000 Nestlé workers, 24 hours after the company announced he would be leaving early, he was in characteristically bullish form. “He tried to sound cheerful, like it was not all a big deal,” one employee says. “He said I’ve decided to leave because the future is now . . . No one believed a word of it.” The revelation that boss of one year Laurent Freixe was conducting an undisclosed affair with a direct report has rocked a 159-year-old conglomerate that pioneered infant formula and milk chocolate before growing to become the world’s largest food and beverage company. It now has thousands of brands ranging from KitKat chocolate bars to Maggi stock cubes and Purina pet food under its umbrella. The ...