Siemens named finance chief Joe Kaeser as its new boss, after dumping chief executive Peter Loescher four years before the end of his contract following a second profit warning this year.
Loescher had promised that Siemens, whose products range from gas turbines to fast trains and ultrasound machines, would grow faster than rivals such as ABB, General Electric and Philips, but profitability was held back by bungled acquisitions, charges for project delays and a focus on sales growth.
Last week, Siemens abruptly abandoned its target of boosting its core operating profit margin to at least 12% from 9.5% by 2014, which turned out to be the final straw for supervisory board members, most of whom voted for Loescher's dismissal at a meeting on Wednesday.
Kaeser, 56, will start on Friday his new task of turning around Germany’s second-biggest company by market value and a symbol of its industrial backbone.