Nestle fires boss after romantic relationship with employee

The Swiss food giant, which makes Kit Kat chocolate bars and Nespresso coffee capsules, said Laurent Freixe has been dimissed with "immediate effect" following an investigation led

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Nestle chair Paul Bulcke, said: "This was a necessary decision. Nestlé's values and governance are strong foundations of our company. I thank Laurent for his years of service at Nestlé."

The relationship was with an employee who is not on the executive board and the investigation began because it represented a conflict of interest, the

Mr Freixe had been with Nestle for nearly 40 years but stepped up to the global chief executive role last September, replacing Mark Schneider.

Philipp Navratil has been appointed as Mr Freixe's successor.

Mr Bulcke said the company was "not changing course on strategy and we will not lose pace on performance".

Other companies have parted ways with their chief executives following investigations into their personal relationships with colleagues.

BP chief executive Bernard Looney, who led the oil giant for three years, quit after admitting he was not "fully transparent" initially.

Steve Easterbrook was fired

But McDonald's said further investigation found that the British executive had three additional relationships with

He initially received $105m in a severance package which he later returned. In 2023, he was fined $400,000