Latest news with #Davos
Cedar News
3 hours ago
- Business
- Cedar News
WEF Launches Internal Probe into Klaus Schwab Over Misconduct Allegations
An internal investigation by the World Economic Forum (WEF) has reportedly found that founder Klaus Schwab engaged in a pattern of workplace misconduct, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The probe uncovered allegations of inappropriate behavior and unauthorized spending by Schwab and his wife. These findings have raised serious concerns about governance and financial oversight within the organization, which is known for hosting the annual Davos summit attended by global leaders and corporate executives. While the WEF has not yet issued a formal public statement regarding the outcome of the investigation, internal sources cited by the WSJ suggest mounting pressure on the organization to respond. The future role of Schwab, who has led the forum since its founding in 1971, is now in question as scrutiny increases both internally and publicly.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
World Economic Forum Probe of Klaus Schwab Finds Unauthorized Spending, Inappropriate Behavior
An internal probe at the World Economic Forum found that its founder Klaus Schwab engaged in a pattern of workplace misconduct over the past decade, including unauthorized spending by him and his wife, bullying behavior and inappropriate treatment of female staffers. The probe, which the Forum's board launched this April in response to a whistleblower complaint, found evidence that Schwab made comments to a female employee that were suggestive and potentially inappropriate. 'Do you feel that I am thinking of you,' Schwab wrote in one late-night June 2020 email to a senior female executive. Morgan Stanley's Screening of Wealth-Management Clients Draws More Scrutiny Why Are Stocks Up? Nobody Knows Kohl's and Opendoor Headline a New Class of Meme Stocks Hershey Lifts Candy Prices, Citing High Cocoa Costs Musk Allies to Raise Up to $12 Billion for xAI Chips as Startup Burns Through Cash The preliminary findings were described by people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Through a spokesman, Schwab broadly rejected the findings, defending his 55-year tenure as the Forum's public face and most senior executive. He said that he always treated women respectfully and that he and his wife never sought to gain financially from their roles at the organization that consumed much of their lives. The conflict threatens to deepen the schism between Schwab and trustees seeking to chart a path forward for the Forum without the man who built it into a global enterprise best known for the annual Davos confab of CEOs and billionaires in the Swiss Alps. A Forum spokesman declined to comment. Schwab, who is 87 years old, stepped down over Easter weekend and no longer has a role with the Forum. He has pushed back aggressively against the allegations threatening his legacy that saw him share the stage for decades with the world's most powerful business and political leaders. Investigators told Forum trustees that their interviews found Schwab treated the organization like his 'fiefdom,' routinely condoning harassment and discrimination and resorting to intimidation and fear to get what he wanted. There was little oversight by the Forum or trustees of the questionable travel and other expenses, they said. Schwab and his wife, Hilde Schwab, filed more than $1.1 million in travel expenses that investigators have flagged as questionable. Much of that paid for first-class flights for Hilde Schwab to accompany her husband on Forum-related trips where she had no formal role, according to the preliminary findings. Separately, the investigators have cited around $63,000 for trips by the Schwabs to Venice, Miami, the Seychelles and other destinations, with little or no evidence of business being involved. The most recent trip cited, to Morocco, spanned a week in late December 2024 to early January 2025. They said Schwab received gifts including Russian tea sets, personalized Tiffany cufflinks and fur coats, in violation of policies. Investigators cited 14 hotel massages billed to the Forum, either on his corporate credit card or through junior employees' cards, adding that Schwab later paid for about half of them. Schwab said he always told assistants to bill him for massages. The preliminary findings were described in confidential documents that were recently presented to some Forum trustees, according to people familiar with the investigation. Investigators also discussed the findings with Schwab in a recent meeting that spanned more than five hours. The Swiss law firm conducting the probe, Homburger, is expected to consider Schwab's feedback before finalizing the results and making recommendations to Forum trustees by the end of August. Homburger declined to comment. The full Forum board of trustees will pass the final report to Swiss authorities that oversee nonprofits and will discuss whether to refer the report to prosecutors, people familiar with their plans say. 'Throughout this journey, Hilde and I never used the Forum for personal enrichment,' Schwab said in a written statement. In additional comments through the spokesman, he cited his long-fixed 1 million Swiss franc, equivalent to $1.3 million, annual salary. Schwab said he also received a fixed allowance of 100,000 Swiss francs a year to cover dinners and other costs of entertaining guests related to his job, primarily at his residence. He said through the spokesman that he entrusted assistants to separate private travel costs from work-related expenses, and that he intends to reimburse the Forum for any personal expenses that he and his wife should have paid, pending results of the investigation. But Schwab said that any travel costs the Forum paid on behalf of his wife to accompany him on work trips were justified because of a 'good-faith understanding,' rather than a written policy, between the Forum and the separate Schwab foundation she chaired. She hasn't earned a salary since 1973, he added. Through the spokesman, Schwab said he donated most gifts he received to charity and displayed others, including Russian tea sets, at Forum headquarters. He said he didn't specifically recall other gifts described by investigators. The whistleblower complaint from this spring was filed almost a year after a Wall Street Journal investigation described a toxic culture for women and Black employees at the organization. Investigators found additional evidence along those lines. They found that Schwab sidelined pregnant women or women over age 40 at times in ways that affected their careers, mental health or both. Schwab, through the spokesman, said he always treated women respectfully. About the 2020 late-night email to a female staffer cited by investigators, Schwab said such communications didn't reflect his character and added that he treated the Forum like a family, and saw himself as a father figure to many young employees. Lawyers interviewed more than 50 people as of earlier this month, including current and former employees, and were still conducting interviews and reviewing documents. The investigation follows a spectacular blowup at the top of the Forum, which kicked off after trustees told Schwab they intended to investigate a fresh wave of whistleblower allegations against him and his wife. Schwab argued he had already been subjected to a monthslong probe and threatened to pursue investigations not only of the trustees, but also of the whistleblowers leveling accusations against him. That earlier Forum investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, senior counsel at U.S. law firm Covington & Burling, spurred a high-level reorganization of reporting lines earlier this year and departures of senior executives. But Klaus Schwab emerged largely unscathed; the Forum at the time said allegations against him weren't substantiated. Much of the drama in recent months has played out publicly in ways particularly problematic for a body that has preached governance and social responsibility, with Schwab as its chief orator. Investigators have found Schwab's inappropriate behavior extended to personal intervention in the results of the Forum's high-profile Global Competitiveness Report, which ranks countries on factors ranging from financial stability to corruption. One recent year, Schwab said he approved of the methodology but wanted changes because he was worried about India's poor score and the U.K.'s climb up the ranks post-Brexit, investigators found. He leaned on employees to bump up India, they found, citing his hard-won relationship with its prime minister, and to demote the U.K. so that Brexit supporters wouldn't be able to cheer the country's move up the rankings. Through the spokesman, Schwab said he only intervened in Forum research when necessary to protect the integrity of high-profile reports. Some of the findings were earlier reported by Swiss outlet SonntagsZeitung. Investigators also cited lavish spending on the interior of a luxury property called Villa Mundi, a costly project near Lake Geneva in Switzerland that they say the Schwabs in late 2019 steered to a design firm they had hired for personal work. Hilde Schwab then largely controlled use of the Forum-owned property, reserving much of it for private use, investigators have found. The Schwabs deny directing the refurbishment project or use of the building. The couple used a Forum-funded driver on some vacations and expensed their residential phone line and a mobile phone used by their maid in Geneva. Various expenses covered by the Forum as benefits for the couple weren't reported on income statements, investigators found. Schwab said through the spokesman that he used the driver, who doubled as security, when justified to manage security risks. He said the home phone line and maid's mobile were valid Forum expenses because of the volume of work and Forum-related entertaining the Schwabs did at home. In his statement, Schwab said he hopes the organization continues to thrive, adding, 'Even if I am no longer part of it, I deeply hope the Forum will remain a trusted bridge-builder in a divided world.' Write to Jenny Strasburg at and Shalini Ramachandran at Capital One Swings to Loss After Discover Financial Acquisition Silicon Valley's Favorite Podcast Is Now Hot in Washington Too Trump Expects $20 Million More in Ad Dollars From '60 Minutes' Settlement GM Profit Shrinks After $1.1 Billion Tariff Hit At the Fed's Banking Conference, Sam Altman, Capital Rules and Avoiding the Powell Drama Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Filip Zadina Signs Multi-Year Contract Extension In Switzerland
Swiss club HC Davos has signed three of its key forwards to three-year contract extensions – Czech Filip Zadina, 25, Canadian Adam Tambellini, 30, and Swede Simon Ryfors, 27. 'We are delighted that Simon, Filip, and Adam have so clearly committed to HCD and are planning their future with us,' said club sports director Jan Alston. 'All three are hungry for more, and we expect a high level of play from them over the next three years.' It's interesting that Zadina chose to sign long-term in Davos after last summer, when the Czech winger was reportedly close to signing with his hometown club Dynamo Pardubice, but a sticking point was term – the club wanted a multi-year deal but Zadina, then 24, wanted to keep his NHL options available and chose the shorter-term offer from Davos. Presumably, this contract contains an opt-out in case he receives an NHL offer. Last season, Zadina had 43 points in 53 National League regular-season and playoff games. He also had four points in three games in the Spengler Cup, which Davos hosts annually. In addition to Tambellini and Ryfors, Zadina's teammates in Davos this season will include ex-NHLers Joakim Nordström, Brendan Lemieux, Rasmus Asplund and Klas Dahlbeck. Rasmus Asplund Leaves Florida Organization For Switzerland Swedish forward Rasmus Asplund, 27, has signed a two-year contract with HC Davos, the National League club announced on Tuesday. Originally from Pardubice, Czechia, Zadina went overseas at age 17 to play junior hockey for the QMJHL's Halifax Mooseheads. After winning the league's rookie-of-the-year award and making the first all-star team, he was drafted sixth overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Between 2018 and 2024, Zadina played 262 NHL games for the Wings and San Jose Sharks, recording 91 points and 40 penalty minutes. In 2023-24, his last NHL campaign to date, Zadina hit career highs in games played (72) and goals (13). Internationally, Zadina performed brilliantly for the Czechs at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship in Buffalo, recording eight points in seven games as the Czechs finished fourth. In his only senior-level World Championship to date in Riga in 2021, Zadina had four points in eight games. Photo © Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images. CONFIRMED: Jesse Puljujärvi Signs Multi-Year Contract in Switzerland Finnish winger Jesse Puljujärvi, 27, has signed a two-year contract with Genève-Servette, the National League club announced on Tuesday.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
WEF ‘rigged data to make Brexit look like failure'
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has been accused of rigging research to make Brexit look like a failure. Klaus Schwab, the face of the Davos conference in Switzerland for years, allegedly intervened in the WEF's annual Global Competitiveness Report, which ranks countries on productivity and long-term prosperity. In the 2017/2018 report, the UK's ranking improved from seventh to fourth after a change in methodology. But Mr Schwab, 87, wrote to staff that the UK 'must not see any improvement', as otherwise it would be 'exploited by the Brexit camp'. The final report published in 2017 showed the UK had dropped one place to eighth.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Filip Zadina Signs Multi-Year Contract Extension In Switzerland
Swiss club HC Davos has signed three of its key forwards to three-year contract extensions – Czech Filip Zadina, 25, Canadian Adam Tambellini, 30, and Swede Simon Ryfors, 27.
