The Playmobil parent company is looking for a new boss: Steffen Höpfner, CEO of the Horst Brandstätter Group, has asked the advisory board to terminate his contract early. This was announced by the company in Zirndorf.
The “Manager Magazin” reported first. “The Advisory Board tried everything to change his mind,” the brief statement said. The outgoing manager had been CEO for seven years and had been with the company for 26 years.
There is obviously internal turbulence in the group: According to reports from several media, the works council had complained bitterly. The company explained that there was no connection between the criticism of individual members of the works council and the resignation of the CEO. “Mr. Höpfner has made a personal decision,” said the spokesman.
Company patriarch and Playmobil inventor Horst Brandstätter died in 2015, Höpfner moved to the top in 2016. The group has a complex structure with two foundations and a holding company, which has led to friction in recent years according to various media reports.
A decision about Höpfner’s successor should be made “promptly”, according to the company’s announcement. The outgoing CEO launched a transformation program in 2019 that has not yet been completed, and a management consultancy has been in-house since spring 2023. “Results and measures are expected in the fall,” said the company spokesman.
