peterbirks | Sometimes the news just isn't enough

Departures of chief executives always bring out the schadenfreude in us, and acrimonious departures are even more entertaining. So the news yesterday that Dirk Lohmann had left Swiss reinsurer Converium was notable not so much for the news of the departure (which had been widely anticipated) as the timing (five days before the annual results, with Mr Lohmann having signed the invitations to the press conference) and the manner.

For this was just about the first time that I have seen a press release announcing the appointment of a new CEO where NO mention of the ex-CEO is made at all. Not even a "thanks for the contributions over the years". Well, perhaps if the CEO was convicted of embezzlement, but this was not the case here. Clearly there had been a quiet request for Mr Lohmann to fall on his sword, and Lohmann had told the supervisory board to sod off. Great stuff. I would have loved to be at that meeting.

I mean, how DO you sack a CEO who clearly does not want to go? Do the security guys escort him to his desk to pick up his stuff in a battered plastic bag? Is he asked to hand over his car keys? And what if he refuses?

The normally ebullient Dirk has been unaccountably silent since Wednesday, which is a pity. I was relally looking forward to a slanging match.