The decision clearly came as a surprise to TIM’s senior management, including Genish himself. At the weekend TIM was denying an Italian newspaper story that he would be fired at a board meeting on 6 December; he was fired on 13 November instead.
The company said first thing this morning: “TIM’s board of directors met today and deliberated by a majority vote to revoke with immediate effect all powers conferred to director Amos Genish, giving mandate to the chairman to resolve further obligations in relation to the existing working relationship with Genish.”
The chairman, Fulvio Conti, has temporarily taken over Genish’s responsibilities. The board will meet again on Sunday 18 November “to appoint a new CEO”, said this morning’s statement – which could be taken to imply that a successor is already lined up.
The TIM board added, apparently without irony, that it thanked “Amos Genish for the work done in the interest of the company and all its stakeholders in these fourteen months of intense activity”.
Genish, a former executive with Vivendi, TIM’s largest shareholder, was appointed to the role in September 2017. Earlier this year a group of activist shareholders led by US group Elliott Management unseated many of the directors nominated by Vivendi but the new board left Genish in place – until today.
This morning’s decision was clearly a surprise to TIM’s management. Only yesterday – having spent Sunday fending off rumours about the CEO’s imminent dismissal – the company put out a statement in which Genish praised the idea of collaboration with Open Fiber “to avoid unnecessary duplication of infrastructure investment”.
Genish also took the opportunity to oppose the Italian regulator’s developing policy for network separation. “We also continue to believe that TIM should be the controller of the [fibre] network like in any other country,” said Genish in the statement.
“Only by maintaining control can we guarantee the current levels of investment and employment, as well as the group’s future successful deployment of the 5G infrastructure, where controlling both mobile and fibre infrastructure is going to be critical for the project success. Deconsolidation of the network would put at risk not only the company’s future, but also the digital ambitions of the country.”
