Leif Östling

Leif Albert Östling (born 25 September 1945) is a Swedish chief executive officer and former head of the Scania AB truck company, owned by the German Volkswagen Group.[1][2][3][4][5][6] In spring 2016, he was appointed Chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, a post he left in advance in November 2017.[7][8][9]

Leif Östling
Leif Östling at the distribution of the Gustaf Dalén Medal 2012.
Born (1945-09-25) 25 September 1945
Luleå, Sweden
NationalitySweden
InstitutionChalmers University of Technology
Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law

Östling has become known as a controversial political entrepreneur debater who makes bold statements.[10] Over the years, he has separated politically from the time of youth when he belonged to the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, SSU.[11][12][13]

Education and working life

Östling was born in Luleå. After graduating with a Master of Engineering degree (MEng) from the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and a Bachelor of Economics degree (BEcon) from Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law,[2][4] he came in 1972 to the Scania AB division in Saab-Scania, where he advanced through a variety of positions. Among other things, he was responsible for long-term planning before he was appointed head of Scania AB in the Netherlands in 1983.[2] In 1989 he was appointed head of the Scania and in 1994 when Scania broke out of the Saab Scania group and became an independent corporation, he was appointed CEO.[14] Östling left his post as CEO of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (which includes Scania AB) 2012 in connection with controversial statements that trade unions have no right of veto for a possible relocation of jobs.[15] Östling continued on 1 September 2012 to a position in Volkswagen AG until September 2015.[16][17]

When Scania's former main investor Investor AB in the year of 2000 agreed that Scania AB would merge with their biggest competitor Volvo Trucks, Östling opposed that merger, just as in the fall of 2006 he had opposed German MAN's plans to buy Scania AB.[11] When the EU Commission, referring to the European Union competition law (Volvo Trucks / Scania AB would practically have a monopoly on the truck market in the Nordic countries), stopped the merger between Volvo Trucks and Scania AB,[18] Östling won that battle and was able, with support from Scania's new owner Volkswagen, to remain in Scania as CEO. Also, the MAN SE bid for takeover was rejected by the main shareholders,[19][20] and Östling could continue as CEO after the Annual general meeting in May 2007.[21]

Controversies

In 2017 Östling participated in the SVT TV program Uppdrag granskning, which showed that he had placed money abroad to avoid Swedish taxation.[22][23] Also his comment in connection with that, "Here you pay 20–30 million a year, what the hell do I get for the money?", was considered inappropriate from a chairman of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.[9][24][25] Östling commented later on the following discussion with "We have got a very narrow sense of corridor in Sweden if all political parties consider the political system to have unlimited taxation rights without the right of citizens to question how the money is used."[26]

Östling has said that he believes it is "genetically conditioned" that so few women enter the engineering profession. He has also expressed his belief that the threat of global warming has been exaggerated and that the phenomenon is possibly caused by natural processes, which completely opposes the consensus in the research community that the current climate change is caused by human activity.[27][28]

Prizes and awards

References
  1. "Leif Östling". EQT. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  2. "Leif Östling" (PDF). Svenskt Näringsliv. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  3. "Leif Östling – resan från Luleå till industritoppen" (in Swedish). NSD. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  4. "Leif Östling". Bloomberg. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  5. "Scania CEO Hints at Counter Bid". Forbes. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  6. "Scania President and CEO Leif Östling: Deregulation is creating new market conditions in Europe". Scania. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  7. "Svenskt Näringslivs ordförande Leif Östling avgår" (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  8. "Leif Östling lämnar ordförandeposten i Svenskt Näringsliv" (in Swedish). Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  9. "Head of Swedish industry group quits after tax comments". Reuters. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  10. "Östling är en frispråkig punkare iklädd kostym". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  11. "Leif Östling – industrins frispråkige tungviktare" (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  12. "Landets mest långlivade vd" (in Swedish). SvD Näringsliv. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  13. "Det blir ingen lagstiftning om lönerna" (in Swedish). Ystad Allehanda. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  14. "Board of directors". SKF. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  15. "Leif Östling går emot fackens vetorätt". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  16. "Leif Östling Joins Modular Management Board". Modular Management. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  17. "Veteranen tar ut svängarna" (in Swedish). Di Weekend. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  18. "The Commission prohibits Volvo's acquisition of its main competitor Scania". European Commission, EU. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  19. "Scania shareholders reject MAN bid". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  20. "Scania board members reject VW-bid – Radio Sweden". Sveriges Radio. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  21. "Scania Minutes of the general meeting" (PDF). Scania. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  22. "Svenskt Näringslivs ordförande har förmögenhet utomlands" (in Swedish). SVT. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  23. "Swedish business boss steps down in 'what do I get for my taxes' row". The Local. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  24. "Swedish Business Chairman Resigns Amid Paradise Papers Link". ICIJ. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  25. "Svenskt Näringslivs ordf: Vad fan får jag?". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  26. "Industrinestorn talar ut om hoten" (in Swedish). Di Weekend. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  27. "Sju klassiska Leif Östling-citat". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  28. "Scientific consensus: Earth's climate is warming". Global Climate Change, Nasa. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  29. "List of honorary doctors at Luleå University of Technology since 1981". Luleå University of Technology. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  30. "Honorary doctors at KTH". KTH. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  31. "Leif Östling får IVAs Stora guldmedalj" (in Swedish). Iva. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  32. "Han är årets sociala kapitalist" (in Swedish). Veckans Affärer. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  33. "Scania-vd årets sociala kapitalist". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  34. "Gustaf Dalén föreläsningen" (in Swedish). Chalmersska Ingenjörsföreningen. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  35. "Gustaf Dalénmedaljen" (in Swedish). Chalmersska Ingenjörsföreningen. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
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