Bpost and its CEO Dirk Tirez are parting ways. He had only been in the saddle for a year and a half. This is not good news for the postal company which urgently needs to restructure its Belgian organisation.
It was the news site Business AM who was the first to ring the bell this morning and reported that CEO Dirk Tirez’s boss would arrive later today. His position would have become untenable due to the investigation into possible wrongdoing regarding the concession for the distribution of newspapers and magazines. At the end of October he temporarily stepped aside.
Several sources confirm that The standard that Tirez’s fate is indeed on the table. In the meantime it has been decided that Bpost and Tirez will separate. This morning there was a board meeting which coincidentally or not more or less coincided with the time the central government met.
Strong debate
In the political corner, people are turning to Bpost for communication. The company will communicate during the afternoon, but there is no precise timing. That’s because there was no doubt vigorous board debate about the pros and cons of pushing the CEO out.
It is still unclear what Tirez is currently accused of. Bpost was conducting an internal investigation into possible mistakes made in the pursuit of a new concession for the distribution of newspapers and periodicals.
There may have been errors in the procedure against the competition rules. In connection with that investigation, the BMA competition watchdog recently carried out house searches of the publisher DPG Media (The latest news, VTM extension …) and at the PPP newspaper distributor. Bpost itself has said it will cooperate with such an investigation.
Room elephant
At Bpost itself, before the dolls started dancing, there was already concern that an internal employee had gone no further than her book. This internal employee reported to Bpost’s Belgian director, Jean Muls, who recently had to resign.
The chairman of the board of directors of Bpost has taken matters into his own hands in recent weeks. Audrey Hannard has been nominated by the PS. The PS is strongly in favor of maintaining the distribution concession, because it would give jobs, at least in the short term. Tirez’s successor therefore knows what is expected of him.
Sending Tirez to the exit comes at a time when Bpost faces major challenges. The Belgian organization must be adapted to the declining post. This did not happen under Jean-Paul Van Avermaet, Tirez’s predecessor and just when he was at the top of the agenda, there is another governance crisis. The elephant in the room therefore appears to be what Bpost’s main political shareholder wants.
