Wowprime Corp (王品) chairman Steve Day (戴勝益) yesterday dropped a bombshell by saying that he was taking early retirement.
His announcement followed local media reports last week of boardroom rifts and of cofounder and vice chairman Chen Cheng-hui (陳正輝), Wowprime’s former head of China operations, overtaking Day in the company’s operations.
Chen yesterday was named acting chairman.
Photo: CNA
Day, 61, had previously announced plans to step down in 2018, when he would be 65.
Wowprime, the nation’s largest restaurant chain operator, operates 13 brands anf 430 restaurants in Taiwan and overseas, including 126 outlets in China.
The Chinese-language Business Weekly magazine last week said Chen had overtaken Day in making strategic decisions for the company because Chen has a larger stake in the company — 5.66 percent compared with Day’s 5.49 percent, based on the company’s annual report.
However, a Wowprime spokesperson yesterday said Day holds more than 20 percent in the company, but she did not provide further details.
Over the past year, Wowprime has been beset by a series of food safety scandals, public relations missteps and corporate departures. Wowprime shares have tumbled 46.46 percent to NT$264.50 yesterday from NT$494 early last year.
The company was last year embroiled in a scandal after it was found to have used animal feed-grade and recycled waste cooking oils in its products. Many consumers felt that the company was arrogant in its response to the scandal, and that its reparation measures were inadequate and insincere.
The company’s image was further tarnished after internal communication calling upon employees to take part in a demonstration against the government’s perceived ineffectiveness was made public.
Wowprime vice chairman and president Endy Wang (王國雄) announced his retirement on May 8, and Chen was named as his replacement.
The sudden departure of Wang, a cofounder of the company and a close confidant of Day, marked a significant shift in the company’s leadership.
“I do not often talk about corporate image, culture and vision as Day does. Instead, I focus on operations and management,” Chen said in a Business Weekly story last week.
Over the past decade, Chen led Wowprime’s expansion into the China market, while Day oversaw operations in Taiwan, and gained a reputation as an outspoken business leader who was not shy to share his thoughts on the economy and politics.
The company’s China operations now contributes about one-third of its overall earnings, with sales in China expected to grow by 30 percent to 35 percent in the next two years.
The magazine report said that about 50 days after his return to Taiwan, Chen made the call to shutter the company’s languishing Famonn Coffee (曼咖啡) brand.
Reports suggest that Chen was dissatisfied with how Wowprime had stumbled through the food safety crisis and that he wanted to make changes in the company.
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