In one of the most bizarre episodes I've ever seen in my career as a business journalist, Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) today fired a senior executive and a member of the board for engaging in unatuhorized discussions to sell the company.
So let me get this straight.
Romeo Kreinberg, the head of Dow's performance plastics division, and senior advisor Pedro Reinhard decided on their own to contact several huge private equity firms. They engaged in discussions about selling the company and senior management knew nothing about any of it. I guess none of the bankers ever spoke with the CEO Andrew Liveris, which strikes me as extremely strange.
To top it all off, Kreinberg and Reinhard decided to leak their activities to a U.K. tabloid that to put it kindly isn't seen as a major source of information about mergers and acquisitions.
This makes absolutely no sense. Then again, neither did a $50 billion buyout of Dow Chemical.
The company is stumped.
"These employees went to great lengths to hide this from us," Dow spokesman Chris Huntley told CNN/Money. "We have no idea in terms of what their motivations were."
Didn't Kreinberg and Reinhard think their bosses wouldn't notice that they sold the company?
This story is far from over.
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