The chairman of the well-known luxury resort chain “Club Med” in France, Henri Giscard d’Estaing, announced his unexpected dismissal due to disagreements with the Chinese conglomerate that owns the company.
In a handwritten letter to all employees on Wednesday, Giscard d’Estaing expressed his shock at being replaced without his consent by the Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group, which abruptly appointed a new CEO and forced him to resign, a move that he claims violated previously agreed procedures.
Giscard d’Estaing has been a senior executive at Club Med since December 2002, serving for over twenty years. Despite his long tenure, he was suddenly ousted in a manner that he considered abrupt and disrespectful.
According to his statement, Giscard d’Estaing was deeply involved in the rigorous search for a new chairman and CEO alongside Fosun, only to be sidelined when the conglomerate unilaterally selected a candidate without offering any transition period or guaranteeing his future stake in the company.
Fosun, on the other hand, asserted in a separate statement that a succession plan had been initiated in 2024 in collaboration with Giscard d’Estaing and the board of directors, which is purportedly still ongoing despite his forced departure.
Reports suggest that disagreements between Giscard d’Estaing and Fosun were public, focusing on whether Club Med should relist in France and whether the decision-making center of the company should be relocated from France to China.
Giscard d’Estaing had been advocating for Club Med to relist in France, with the support of the French government and potential investment from the French state-owned company Bpifrance. He revealed in a June interview with the French media that efforts were being made to convince Fosun to relist Club Med on the Paris Stock Exchange from the first half of 2026.
However, Fosun promptly refuted these claims by stating that there were no current plans to relist Club Med on the Paris Stock Exchange, indicating a fundamental disagreement on the direction of the company’s future.
In 2015, Fosun, founded by Chinese billionaire Guo Guangchang, acquired Club Med at a high price and subsequently delisted the company in March 2015.
Giscard d’Estaing emphasized in his letter that Club Med should go public and that its decision-making center should remain in France, a stance that clashed with Fosun’s plan to potentially move the center to Shanghai. Despite his efforts to persuade them otherwise, he was dismissed by Fosun, a decision he condemned for lacking diversity in ownership, international governance, and respect for the company’s French roots.
He criticized the majority of Club Med’s directors based in Shanghai for their lack of international experience and ability to speak English, highlighting their limited understanding of the global development of Club Med and its French heritage.
Fosun responded by asserting that the decision-making center of Club Med would continue to be based in France, suggesting a continued disparity in perspectives between the two parties regarding the future direction of the company.
Overall, the unexpected dismissal of Henri Giscard d’Estaing from Club Med has sparked tensions and raised questions about the company’s governance, strategic direction, and international alignment moving forward.