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Metro CEO links chiefs to Bayern’s deadly duo
Bayern Munich’s deadly duo: Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery
Eckhard Cordes likes football. The chief executive of the
world’s third largest retailer Metro likes German Bundesliga
club Bayern Munich, to be more precise. And he likes giving
examples. “I tend to give examples, sometimes silly
examples,” he admitted at the company’s annual news conference
on Wednesday in Duesseldorf, Germany.
So when he was asked to explain a new structure at Metro’s Cash
& Carry business — which some analysts had seen as a demotion
of the unit’s head Frans Muller, who has to give some of his
responsibilities to Joel Saveuse — he made use of his passion.
“I’m a fan of Bayern Munich,” he began and went on to say
what a fantastic job Dutchman Arjen Robben had done recently in
the absence of Bayern’s playmaker Franck Ribery. The Frenchman
returned to action in January after three months out due to
injury. “Now, Ribery is back. But just because Ribery is back
doesn’t mean that Robben will now all of the sudden play less
well,” Cordes said.
“And at Metro, it’s the same: Our Arjen is called Frans and
Franck is Joel. That’s the truth. You will see a management team
as solid as a rock.”
Even Muller had to smile at the comparison to Bayern
Munich’s deadly duo.
from MediaFile:
No Super Bowl blues; expect big TV ratings
The U.S. economy might be weak, but the Super Bowl still scores with consumers.
The CBS broadcast of the National Football League's championship game on Feb. 7 between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints should draw strong TV ratings, possibly challenging viewer levels not seen since the late 1990s.
"We're looking at a big rating," said Neal Pilson, former CBS Sports president and head of his own sports consulting firm. "The fact that the two conference championships got better than usual ratings usually indicates that there's a lot of public interest."
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