Glencore CEO Under Fire for Financial Issues and Scandals

Glencore CEO Ivan Glasenberg has been at the helm of the company since 2001, but his leadership has been marred by financial issues and scandals.

Glencore's financial woes began to surface in 2015, when the company's stock price plummeted due to a massive commodities trading loss.

The company's struggles continued in 2016, when Glencore wrote down $7.2 billion in value from its oil and copper assets, citing a sharp decline in commodity prices.

Glencore's financial issues have had a significant impact on the company's bottom line, with the company reporting a net loss of $6.7 billion in 2016.

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Glencore has a new CEO, Gary Nagle, who will replace Ivan Glasenberg in the first half of 2021.

Gary Nagle has been with Glencore since 2000, starting in Switzerland as part of the coal business development team.

He worked in Colombia from 2013 to 2018 as the CEO of Prodeco, Glencore's Colombian coal operation.

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Nagle then moved to South Africa to take on the role of head of Glencore's Alloys Assets until 2018.

Gary Nagle will relocate from Australia to Switzerland early next year to work with Glasenberg during the transition.

Ivan Glasenberg has been Glencore's only boss since the company's London IPO in 2011.

Glasenberg has been in the top job since 2002 and will retire in the first half of 2021.

Tony Hayward, the chair, praised Glasenberg's leadership, saying he understood the importance of creating a long-term asset base.

Glasenberg will continue to support the company as a shareholder after his retirement.

Gary Nagle expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in him by the board and said he's honored to be appointed CEO.

In 2011, Glencore faced allegations of financial and accounting manipulations over a subsidiary in Zambia.

This complaint was filed by five non-government organisations with the OECD.

The alleged manipulations were supposed to have been performed by Mopani Copper Mines Plc, a subsidiary of Glencore, to evade taxation in Zambia.

A draft Grant Thornton report claimed that tax avoidance by Glencore in Zambia cost the Zambian Government hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.

The alleged avoidance was facilitated through transfer pricing and inflated costs at Glencore's Mopani Copper Mine.

Glencore and its auditor, Deloitte, rejected these allegations.

As of 2013, Glencore's payments to Zambia's government had increased.

Glencore's history is a story of growth and expansion. The company merged with Xstrata in 2012, a deal worth £39.1 billion in shares.

Glencore leaders Willy Strothotte and Ivan Glasenberg were on the board of Xstrata as early as 2006, with Strothotte even chairing the company. This close relationship laid the groundwork for the eventual merger.

In 2012, Glencore acquired Xstrata, creating an entity with 2012 sales of US$209 billion. This deal made Glencore the biggest mining takeover ever.

In May 2011, Glencore went public with an initial public offering (IPO) in London and Hong Kong, valued at about $US60 billion.

The IPO document revealed valuable information about the private company that had remained discreet for thirty-seven years.

Glencore raised gross proceeds of around $10 billion through the IPO.

Ivan Glasenberg's shareholding was diluted from 18.1% before the IPO to 15.8% afterwards.

Daniel Mate and Telis Mistakidis, zinc, copper, and lead co-directors, saw their shareholding diluted from 6.9% to 6%.

Aabar Investments, a state-owned company from the United Arab Emirates, invested $850 million in Glencore as a cornerstone investor in the IPO.

Aabar's investment made it the largest cornerstone investor and the largest new shareholder of Glencore after the IPO, giving it a 1.4% stake.

The two firms intended to explore areas of co-operation.

However, in November 2012, Aabar Investments wrote off more than $392 million of its $1 billion investment into Glencore's IPO less than two years after investing it.

Glencore merged with Xstrata in 2012-2013, creating the world's largest diversified commodities trader.

The merger was worth £39.1 billion (US$62 billion) in shares and would create an entity with 2012 sales of US$209 billion.

Glencore controlled 40% of Xstrata stock by 2006 and appointed Xstrata CEO, Mick Davis.

The merger was initially met with shareholder opposition to a huge payout for executives, but they eventually agreed to a retention package.

In total, 73 key executives stood to receive over GBP 170 million under the initial retention package.

Glencore's operations in 40 countries handled 3% of the world's oil consumption at the time.

Xstrata's operations in more than 20 countries employed 70,000 people.

After the merger, the company's annual income fell 25% due to weak commodity prices.

The merger was completed in April 2013, but the company didn't change its name to Glencore plc until May 2014.

Glencore Xstrata's CFO, Trevor Reid, announced that he would no longer work as an employee but become a consultant after the merger.

Switzerland's role in commodity trading is rooted in its history of being an opaque business.

Commodity trading is a crucial part of our daily lives, yet it remains shrouded in mystery.

Switzerland's importance in this industry can be attributed to its history of being a hub for this type of business.

Its daily lives depend on commodity trading, yet it's an industry that's often misunderstood.

The country's unique position as a neutral player in global politics has contributed to its success in commodity trading.

Glencore has set ambitious climate goals, aiming to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.

The company plans to achieve this by reducing its direct and indirect carbon footprint by 40% by 2035, compared to 2019 levels.

Glencore believes investing in metals vital for the transition to a lower carbon world is key to its climate goals.

The company has already made some concessions, including capping coal production and aligning its business strategy with Paris climate targets.

Glencore's CEO, Ivan Glasenberg, has been receiving a flat annual salary of $1.5 million since the company listed in 2011.