Teamviewer’s supervisory board has extended CEO Oliver Steil’s contract until October 2024.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf After the price crash of Teamviewer, the software service provider took the first steps: CEO Oliver Steil is supposed to correct the mistakes of the recent past and push the development of the MDax company forward. His contract, which expires in August 2022, will be extended by three years.
The contract of CFO Stefan Gaiser, however, will not be extended by “mutual agreement”, the company announced in a mandatory notification. In addition, the current three-person executive board is to be expanded to four members in the future.
It is the beginning of a critical analysis of the last mistakes the management made, who is responsible for them and how the company can quickly get back on track. “It was important that the supervisory board has now made a clear decision with regard to the team constellation,” said Teamviewer boss Oliver Steil to the Handelsblatt on Monday.
The publication of the latest quarterly figures showed that the capital market’s expectations of the specialist for remote maintenance and remote operation of machines were exaggerated – driven, however, by the management’s self-imposed goals. Because one thing is certain: Teamviewer is actually in good shape, sales and profits continue to grow. Last but not least, there was a lack of communication with the financial market, for which the CFO is responsible.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
Andreas Wolf, Teamviewer Analyst at Warburg Research, said: “Several guidance cuts this year are clearly on the account of the CFO,” he said. Stefan Gaiser was also associated with the sponsorship agreement with the football club Manchester United among the investors, “whose value contribution is more than a question mark”.
However, according to Wolf, the change in personnel alone is not enough: Teamviewer will have to deliver regularly in the future in order to rebuild trust. “In view of the expected lower growth and, at the same time, a higher cost base, there is now a lot of work ahead of management.”
Oliver Steil thanked Stefan Gaiser for the cooperation. Before, during and after the IPO, they would have worked very well together – back then as a team of two.
Head of Sales wanted
In April, the board of directors was strengthened with Marketing Director Lisa Agona. In addition to a new CFO, Teamviewer is now also looking for a sales director. “As a now global company with a wide variety of product groups, sales to major customers and several partnerships, we have certainly had too many tasks on the Executive Board recently,” says Steil. The new board member should primarily take care of sales and the development of partnerships – tasks that previously would have been in his own reporting line.
In addition to these personnel changes, the Supervisory Board and management have decided on a package of measures for the CEO and the management team. The plan still has to be worked out, says Steil. But he already mentions a few points: “We have developed quickly and made very good acquisitions with the core product in the large customer area, but we have lost focus in the business for medium-sized companies and IT service providers.” Here, Teamviewer would have “always the best product, the best pricing.” , the best communication and the best internet presence “- it is important to draw more attention to it again.
The recent strong expansion should also be put to the test. The Asia-Pacific region offers a lot of potential overall, says Steil. “We see good growth especially in Japan, India and Australia, but we have to deal with China.” Business there has become more difficult due to the regulation.
Costs are to be reduced when building up staff. “We will significantly reduce the speed of recruiting,” says Steil. And he admits: “In the corona pandemic, we would have had to reduce the hiring rate and better onboard and train fewer people.” In some places it is necessary to replace staff.
Steil also wants to review the product portfolio. As an example, he cites unnecessary duplication of online meeting offers, which have resulted, among other things, from acquisitions. Steil wants to concentrate more on core competencies in IoT solutions, i.e. in the area of networked machines and factories. “Our unique selling proposition is the connection of the machines, with additional products such as analysis tools and data visualization there are enough other providers on the market who can build on our offer.”
“In retrospect, the pandemic has changed more than I saw at first,” says Steil self-critically. It was difficult to assess what advance purchases are and what panic purchases are. “We could have acted more cautiously and counteracted faster, and as CEO I am responsible for that.”
More: Teamviewer – How things continue after the crash on the stock exchange