Laurent Freixe
Laurent Freixe | |
|---|---|
Freixe in 2025 | |
| Born | Laurent François Charles Freixe 21 April 1962 Paris, France |
| Education | EDHEC Business School |
| Title | Former CEO, Nestlé |
| Term | 2024–2025 |
| Predecessor | Ulf Mark Schneider |
| Successor | Philipp Navratil |
| Spouse | Agata Balcerowska |
Laurent François Charles Freixe[1] (born 21 April 1962) is a French business executive, who was the chief executive of Nestlé from September 2024 to September 2025.
Early life
Freixe was born in April 1962 and grew up in Paris. His parents were electrical engineers.[1] He earned an MBA with an emphasis in marketing from EDHEC Business School in Lille in 1985.[1] Freixe was a competitive handball player, winning a French championship when he was sixteen years old.[1]
Career
Freixe started at Nestlé negotiating contracts with grocery stores.[1] He worked in market research, then as a brand manager for the Dairy and Nutrition division. He helped Nestlé beat competitor Captain Iglo in the fish sticks market with a new fish sticks brand he launched called Croustibat.[1] He also helped the struggling French snacks division rebound by making large cuts to the overstaffed division.[1]
At age 37, Freixe became the head of the Dairy and Nutrition Division for Nestlé France for three years, before moving to Hungary where he was the head of the Spanish and Portuguese markets for two years.[1] In 2008, Freixe was invited to take over as the head of Europe.[1] Freixe helped grow the Nestlé coffee brand Nescafé Dolce Gusto to billions in annual revenue.[1] As head of Europe, he developed his approach to management, which he refers to as a "virtuous circle."[1]
In 2014, he was put in charge of the Americas at Nestlé.[1]
On 1 September 2024, Freixe succeeded Ulf Mark Schneider as chief executive of Nestlé.[2][3] He reversed the planned restructure, increased spending on advertising and cut costs by a few hundred million euro per year.[1][3][4] Freixe refocused the company on core brands including Nescafé, KitKat and Fancy Feast, and promised to reinvest in areas with more-promising growth products, such as cold coffee.[5] Freixe also said he was going to reduce the company's pace of acquisitions.[6] He also restarted the company's 60/40 rule, whereby Nestlé only releases products where blind taste-testing experiments show at least 60 percent of consumers prefer it over competing products.[1]
On 1 September 2025, Nestlé announced the immediate dismissal of Freixe citing an undisclosed romantic relationship with an employee that violated the company's code of conduct.[7] The dismissal came following an investigation by the company's board.[7] Freixe did not receive any remuneration on exit and was replaced by Philipp Navratil.[8][9] Nestlé's share price dropped nearly 20% in the period Freixe was CEO—underperforming peers such as Unilever and Danone.[10]
Personal life
Freixe is married to Agata Balcerowska, who is a senior executive at Publicis.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ruschmann, Dirk (27 February 2025). "Kriegt Nestle unter Laurent Freixe die Kurve". Bilanz.
- ^ "Nestle replaces CEO Schneider with company veteran Freixe". CNBC. 23 August 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
- ^ a b Basini, Bruna (9 May 2025). "Nestle, Who Else?". Les Echos.
- ^ Ruschmann, Dirk (1 November 2024). "Laurent Freixe legt los". BILANZ. p. 22.
- ^ Wallace, Margot Patrick and Joe. "Nestlé CEO's Unraveling Started With a Tip to Employee Hotline". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "Nestlé boss says his predecessor 'weakened the fabric' of the company". Financial Times. 22 May 2025. Retrieved 9 July 2025.
- ^ a b Miller, Robert (2 September 2025). "Nestlé CEO loses job after 'romantic relationship' with staff member". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
- ^ Abraham, Rhea Rose (1 September 2025). "Nestle dismisses CEO Laurent Freixe after code of conduct breach". Reuters. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
- ^ "Nestlé fires CEO after investigation into 'undisclosed romantic relationship'". The Guardian. 1 September 2025. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 September 2025.
- ^ Wallace, Margot Patrick and Joe. "Nestlé CEO's Unraveling Started With a Tip to Employee Hotline". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 3 September 2025.
- ^ "Can Philipp Navratil end the turmoil at Nestlé?". www.thetimes.com. 2 September 2025. Retrieved 3 September 2025.