Former Nestlé CEO Laurent Freixe was fired after a senior executive said to be his mistress allegedly caught him in a Zurich hotel with a subordinate — and then filed a complaint through the company’s anonymous hotline that triggered an internal investigation, according to an explosive report.
Freixe, the 63-year-old Frenchman who was shown the door earlier this week, was canned after a company investigation revealed that he had been carrying on a romance with an underling — a senior marketing executive who left the company earlier this year.
But a new report claims that the now-former company chief had previously been involved with another subordinate known as his “official” mistress who caught him and his lover in the act.
The Zurich-based financial news site Inside Paradeplatz reported that the confrontation set off a chain reaction inside the world’s biggest food company.
Nestlé Chairman Paul Bulcke and vice chair Pablo Isla reportedly humiliated Freixe in person after learning of the affair — telling him he was out “effective immediately” and, according to the outlet, ordering him to hand over his phone while calling him a “liar.”
According to the site, the “main mistress” received a severance package as a result of the complaint. The woman, who has not been named, recently moved to a high position at another large company, the report claimed.
The other subordinate involved with Freixe also departed the firm and was given a large severance package that was arranged by the fired CEO, according to the site.
“Everything that needs to be said on the matter has been said, and I will not engage in further wild conjectures and speculation,” a company spokesperson told the site when asked for comment.
The Post has sought comment from Nestlé.
Nestlé said it fired Freixe, a nearly 40-year veteran of the company, on Monday for failing to disclose a relationship with a direct report — a violation of its code of conduct — but has not confirmed the explosive allegations about how the affair was exposed.
He did not receive any severance payout for his four decades at the food giant.
After the drama, Freixe re-emerged on LinkedIn, boasting, “I got my mobile back, I am reachable anytime,” and sending a congratulatory note to his successor, Philipp Navratil — misspelling his name as “Philippe,” according to the Swiss report.
Freixe had been named CEO less than a year ago, making his downfall one of the fastest in Nestlé’s history.
Bulcke and other senior executives said the move was necessary to protect Nestlé’s values and ethical standards, stressing that top leaders are held to the same rules as the rest of the 270,000-strong workforce.
