BT denies any CEO rift behind chairman's retirement

[March 06, 2021]    LONDON (Reuters) - BT denied any "misalignment" between board and management on Saturday after Sky News said that CEO Philip Jansen had indicated he might resign unless it replaced its chairman.

Company's logo is displayed at British Telecom (BT) headquarters in London, Britain, November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

The British broadband and mobile telecoms operator said on Monday that Jan du Plessis, who was appointed chairman in November 2017, had informed the board of his intention to retire once a successor has been appointed.

"The chairman throughout his tenure has demonstrated strong leadership ... been extremely supportive of management and any suggestion that he has impeded the transformation of BT is without foundation," BT said in a statement on Saturday.

"There has been no misalignment between the board and executive management over the company's strategy," BT added

On Friday Sky News reported that Jansen, who joined BT as CEO in 2019, had told fellow directors he was frustrated with the speed at which it was taking key strategic decisions.

Jansen indicated that he was prepared to resign unless a new chairman who could accelerate the pace of change was appointed, Sky News said, citing several people close to the company.

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Alexander Smith)

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