marknorton Posted February 24, 2008 Share #341 Posted February 24, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) The reason for that is that there is no market for Leica shares. Dr Kaufmann owns more than 95% of the shares through ACM and can force minority shareholders to sell at the price (I believe) of around €12. I don't know what the mechanism is for setting that price but it is a little lower than it was. The price is therefore unaffected by the ups and downs of the DAX. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 24, 2008 Posted February 24, 2008 Hi marknorton, Take a look here Steven K.Lee gone. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
luigi bertolotti Posted February 24, 2008 Share #342 Posted February 24, 2008 I'm an investor in operating companies, and if one of my CEOs told me that products or marketing weren't his problem, he's be out faster than he can find his hat. I'm sure Lee had a very good idea about the products and its marketing. Leica doesn't have that many products. Agree 100% : Lee wasn't at all a photo tech, came from a retailer... if he wasn't well into the marketing and channel management, I can't imagine how he would have spent his time... Leica is a small company, surely with uncomplicated internal processes, with a small product line, a part of which (binoculars & C.) I think is a very "simple" business. Surely his clear tentatives to establish a sort of "be direct" (Dell-style) strategy caused irritation in the channel... surely his declarations about the "perpetual upgrade" program were someway imprudent (in the digital era, it's risky to give such a strong hoomph to this strategy)... and the same applies to the outings on FF... but anyway, I continue to think of something more serious for such an abrupt firing. BTW, I think that if it was him to envision and draw the "Summarit move", this counts to his credit as a savvy move ... a product line that, based on the "2,5" basic aperture, allows Leica to have decent prices for lenses that do not disturb the rich product line of top-luminosity primes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted February 24, 2008 Share #343 Posted February 24, 2008 I still believe that the language chosen relates to his handling of employee, dealer and customer relations. Leica has alienated a lot of people in a short time, and introduced a lot of negative press to a previously solid reputation, and whether he caused it directly, or simply failed to straighten it out, he is ultimately responsible, being in charge. There is another possibility, which I hesitate to put forward. Maybe he was hired specifically to get certain unpopular changes pushed through, and was then "let go", according to plan, with language chosen to win back the hearts of those alienated in the process, including other employees. Does anyone know more about the mid-level managers (research, production, optics, communication, and the press contact person), who were let go in the last year or two, like Gero Furchheim? I presume that letting these people go caused a deep rift in the company, which only Lee's leaving could heal, but perhaps this was exactly the plan? Will these people be brought back? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
flavio Posted February 24, 2008 Share #344 Posted February 24, 2008 i have very rarely read such a harsh official statement to fire an AD, so i suppose luigi and others may be right to say something behind the scene did happen and we'll know it later (if ever will be). as a leica lover i simply hope this will be for the best of my preferred photo brand. time is not running out but all these rapid changes are not a good thing for Leica (and any other company). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Flatline Posted February 24, 2008 Share #345 Posted February 24, 2008 Ya' know, for what it's worth - the press release may simply mean that Leica has poor PR and Communications skills, not that Lee was a bad CEO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 24, 2008 Share #346 Posted February 24, 2008 <quote>There is another possibility, which I hesitate to put forward. Maybe he was hired specifically to get certain unpopular changes pushed through, and was then "let go", according to plan, with language chosen to win back the hearts of those alienated in the process, including other employees.<quote> Carsten, a warm welcome from the country of Machiavelli !!! Be or not so, it's a brilliant hypotesis, really !!! Not absurd... there is a whole breed of (typically US - grown) managers who are specialized in such tasks... not an easy game to play, nor nice, but money i$ money... you enioy a sort of 1-year vacation into a prestigious compnay... play a predetermined part, get out as planned.... and LEICA goes on !!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdai Posted February 24, 2008 Share #347 Posted February 24, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) Ya' know, for what it's worth - the press release may simply mean that Leica has poor PR and Communications skills, not that Lee was a bad CEO. Or, it's a retaliation from the PR people ... Lee has their "head" fired before he burnt himself, right? In short, the story is, Lee got shot before he could shot his "rival". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted February 24, 2008 Share #348 Posted February 24, 2008 I'm an investor in operating companies, and if one of my CEOs told me that products or marketing weren't his problem, he's be out faster than he can find his hat. I'm sure Lee had a very good idea about the products and its marketing. Leica doesn't have that many products. I'm absolutely sure he had a good handle on what was going on, but what I said was that he wouldn't - most likely - have been responsible for the pictures on the new website which people don't like and think are the reason he was sacked, or the decision to give a discount on a new lens, or to introduce Summarit lenses........ people are citing things they are unhappy about with the product but they almost certainly are not the reason. Anyway, despite all this my cameras are still working (I just checked) and I have every reason to believe that the sun will rise in the morning! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aXs Posted February 24, 2008 Share #349 Posted February 24, 2008 Carsten, are you refering to that text of the Leica newsletter regarding "civil courage" inside Leica Camera AG? (ie: ..."Liebe Leica Freunde, Steven K. Lee ist weg... mit sofortiger Wirkung hat der Aufsichtsrat der Leica Camera AG den Vorstandsvorsitzenden Steven K. Lee abberufen... Über diese Entlassung können wir uns auf jeden Fall freuen... ...Ich bedanke mich bei allen Beteiligten für die gezeigte Zivilcourage ... Leica-Mitarbeitern... Ihr Martin Meister LEICA-CAMERA-BERLIN Carsten, don't shoot the messager! but thanks for your personal observations. Leica Berlin Gallery: I can't imagine the manager of the Leica Flagship-store was really 'surprised' by a Leica art project/installation in Berlin (single image/multiples) - since it was obviously sponsored and announced by Leica Camera AG Solms (see: LFI-magazine, Leica International Fotografie 2/2007). In 2007 Steven K. Lee personally approved all artistic/creative Leica-projects. Mr Meister also used such projects to promote the Leica Flagship-concept (same in Tokyo and Paris). Recently, Mr Martin Meister, sent an email letter to all customers of http://www.Leica-Camera-Berlin.com, and http://www.LeicaBeiMeister.com - bluntly explaining his pleasure that Steven K. Lee was sacked. There was a conflict of corporate cultures between Leica Camera AG and the newly branded Leica Flagship-stores. I may add, that also luxury Hermes boutiques have also exhibited single images/multiples as art projects too. Axel Axel Sanders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodda Posted February 24, 2008 Share #350 Posted February 24, 2008 Not sure what others think but afer 20 years with leica I am more anxious about Leica 's future after this than at any time. What can the board do to reassure us. Maybe Nikon will buy us:) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colorflow Posted February 24, 2008 Share #351 Posted February 24, 2008 In any case, it is a very poorly worded announcement/press release which reflects poorly on Leica's public relations, owner,.and supervisory board. Such wording would only be appropriate if preceeded or accompanied by disclosure of grossly unethical or illegal activities by Lee. I hope we, the Leica customers, are not in for an even rougher ride. Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted February 24, 2008 Share #352 Posted February 24, 2008 Such wording would only be appropriate if preceeded or accompanied by disclosure of grossly unethical or illegal activities by Lee In my experience this very rarely happens - maybe it's a European thing. In companies where something similar has happened there's just been a terse statement such as the above. Very few companies want to wash their dirty laundry in public unless the police are involved. Of course that doesn't stop the employees speculating <grin>. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stnami Posted February 24, 2008 Share #353 Posted February 24, 2008 ....not sure if I really care what happened, if they stay in business good otherwise fill your M3 with agfa and take images of nostalgia Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwf Posted February 24, 2008 Share #354 Posted February 24, 2008 There seems to be only one fact available (Lee is gone). Until more emerges, and spin is removed as needed, the market for used Leica equipment (here, eBay, KEH, etc.) may be the best source, and it may even remain so going forward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colorflow Posted February 24, 2008 Share #355 Posted February 24, 2008 In my experience this very rarely happens - maybe it's a European thing. In companies where something similar has happened there's just been a terse statement such as the above. Very few companies want to wash their dirty laundry in public unless the police are involved. Of course that doesn't stop the employees speculating <grin>. I agree. What I meant was a public disclosure, not by Leica, by the press or police... Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digitom Posted February 24, 2008 Share #356 Posted February 24, 2008 One thing is 99.99999% sure. There won't be an M9 at the Photokina...And even if, it would cost at least 10.000 Euro. Is there really a need for M9? I think there is a need for R10 and a need for more digital compact cameras, a need for digilux 4 (in the line fo Digilux 2, not Digilux 3). So many things to do except an M9.... ...or maybe an analog model M9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrc Posted February 24, 2008 Share #357 Posted February 24, 2008 I may have my head where the sun don't shine, but let me suggest: When I've read about German companies, they have seemed to me to be very worker-oriented. Band of brothers, etc. There may, of course, be conflicts within the company, but they are like conflicts in a family: kept there. You are expected, from top to bottom, to be loyal to the company (before consumers, before even stockholders.) The US model would argue that sometimes, companies,, if they wish to survive, have to be torn to pieces, long-time workers dismissed, old procedures overthrown, etc. Lee came directly from such a company -- a company that is renowned for that attitude), and further back, from a company (IBM) that almost died because of a Leica-like inability to modernize. He should have learned the modernization lesson well. The extraordinary inability of the Leica service department to function at any reasonable level suggests to me that there was terrific resistance to changes in that department (for one.) Workers may very well have been disaffected, may have known that management was trying to do something that would not be good for individuals (even if it was good for the company.) Before Lee, Leica was slowly stumbling to its death; that might have been okay for individual workers (who would just want to play out the string for as long as possible) but would not be good for the company. What is good for a company is not necessarily good for individual workers. I have personal experience in this, as I used to work for newspapers in the US, and have watched as many of them (with my friends still working there) fold up and die. This whole syndrome (what's good for the company isn't necessarily good for the workers) is repeated over and over, as a company struggles on the edge of extinction, and creates great bitterness -- bitterness almost to the point of murder. If any of this speculation is true, then Lee may have been thoroughly and widely hated around the company. The first word of his dismissal may have been an intemperate expression by a single worker in the PR department, who genuinely hated or feared him. The more temperate press release later may have been what the board really intended. If this is correct, then Lee may have been dismissed for any number of reasons, including, simply, a bad fit. The spasm of anger that we saw may have been the result of what he thought were necessary management/personnel actions during his tenure. JC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
carstenw Posted February 24, 2008 Share #358 Posted February 24, 2008 Carsten, are you refering to that text of the Leica newsletter regarding "civil courage" inside Leica Camera AG? Erm... I am lost I don't know which part of what I wrote you mean when you ask what I was referring to? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldie Posted February 24, 2008 Share #359 Posted February 24, 2008 I'm absolutely sure he had a good handle on what was going on, but what I said was that he wouldn't - most likely - have been responsible for the pictures on the new website which people don't like and think are the reason he was sacked, or the decision to give a discount on a new lens, or to introduce Summarit lenses........ people are citing things they are unhappy about with the product but they almost certainly are not the reason. So what the hell does a CEO of a company with 1000 employees do, knit socks and play golf, somebody makes decisions and it's not the cleaners. By the way most people have thought the ~Summarits were a good decision. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted February 24, 2008 Share #360 Posted February 24, 2008 By the way most people have thought the ~Summarits were a good decision. I agree, now that I have got a good one, my 75 Summarit is excellent. You see some of us are out taking photos with our Leica M8's and lenses rather than whingeing on a forum. Perhaps some others should get out more. Wilson Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/46044-steven-klee-gone/?do=findComment&comment=492048'>More sharing options...
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