The decision to remove Genish comes after TIM’s board voted to proceed with a EUR 2 billion writedown on the goodwill of its core domestic business, a move described as "shocking ... sudden, very unusual and very destabilising" by the company’s largest shareholder Vivendi. Earlier reports suggested Genish had lost the support of US activist fund Elliott Management, TIM’s second-largest shareholder, which seized control of the operator’s board from Vivendi in May.
A former Israeli army captain and chief convergence officer for Vivendi, Genish last month hinted at a possible exit, telling Italian daily La Repubblica that tensions between management, board and shareholders at TIM were “creating a lot of trouble and becoming unsustainable”. He committed to staying with the group earlier this summer after receiving Elliott’s backing for his three-year turnaround plan focused on a digital transformation and improving the group’s investment grade credit rating.
However, some directors representing Elliott reportedly became impatient with lack of progress under Genish as well as his resistance to selling a stake in towers company Inwit and fully spinning off the company’s fixed network.
