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The
sources said Franziska Leonhardt, head of Rocket's legal
department, and Uwe Gleitz, senior vice president of corporate
finance, would leave the company shortly, both for personal
reasons.
Sources close to the company said there had been no changes in
the core management team and it should be no problem to find
replacements for those leaving, but their departure is a further
sign of uncertainty at the company.
Last month Rocket was forced to deny a dispute with major
investor Sweden's Kinnevik over plans to list its recipe
ingredients delivery start-up HelloFresh as it removed
Kinnevik's chief executive as chairman of its supervisory board.
Both Leonhardt and Gleitz were members of the team which
prepared the initial public offering of Rocket in October 2014,
since when the share price has steadily declined from the 42.50
offer price, closing at 23.37 euros on Monday.
Founded by brothers Oliver, Alexander and Marc Samwer in 2007,
Rocket has set up dozens of ecommerce sites, aiming to replicate
the success of Amazon and Alibaba in new markets in Africa,
Latin America and Russia.
However, investors have been unsettled since it took a new
direction early last year by splashing out on online food
takeaway businesses in developed markets, prompting it to seek
more funds. And its plans to list businesses like HelloFresh
have been disrupted by rocky equity markets.
A source close to the company told Reuters last month there had
been disagreements on the supervisory board about strategy.
Rocket is also looking for a new head of communications to
replace Andreas Winiarski who left last year to join a
consultancy.
(Reporting by Nadine Schimroszik and Emma Thomasson; Editing by
Susan Fenton)
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