Inside the scandal that toppled Nestlé's CEO
How a whistleblower hotline, a Zurich hotel room, and a CEO’s secret relationships unravelled the world’s biggest food company.
IF you thought Nestlé’s biggest problem was declining Milo sales or hashtags calling for a boycott, think again. Because far away from supermarket aisles in Malaysia, inside the polished corridors of Nestlé’s Swiss headquarters, an entirely different crisis was brewing.
It involved secret hotel meetings, a whistleblower hotline, two women, and one very fired chief executive officer (CEO).
Laurent Freixe, a man who had spent nearly four decades rising through the ranks of Nestlé, was meant to be calm after the storm.
Appointed CEO in September 2024 after his predecessor was ousted for lacklustre performance, Freixe was seen as the safe choice. Familiar. Traditional. Someone who’d bring Nestlé back to basics.
But less than a year later, he was marched out the door with no severance and a scandal stuck to his name.
And it wasn’t because of bad numbers.
It started with a hotel room in zurich
The rumour began like they always do, quietly. Freixe had allegedly been in a long-term, undisclosed relationship with a senior executive at Nestlé. This woman, his “official mistress” as some Swiss reports cheekily put it, wasn’t just romantically involved with him, she was also powerful within the company.
But everything changed when she reportedly discovered him in a Zurich hotel room… with someone else.
The woman in the room? Another Nestlé employee, younger, more junior, and very much not the one he was supposed to be exclusive with.
Enter: The whistleblower hotline
Betrayal stings. But betrayal with access to Nestlé’s anonymous whistleblowing system? That’s corporate warfare.
The “main mistress”, humiliated and furious, decided to report Freixe through the internal Speak Up hotline. It kicked off an investigation into possible breaches of Nestlé’s internal code of conduct. At first, the probe didn’t find anything solid. But then more details started surfacing.
According to insiders, the company discovered that Freixe had indeed been involved in a romantic relationship with a direct subordinate, a major violation of Nestlé’s rules.
Worse still, it looked like he hadn’t just fallen in love. He’d allegedly approved a promotion for her, nudging her into a high-ranking vice president of marketing role.
When Nestlé's top board members, including Chairman Paul Bulcke, confronted Freixe, it wasn’t some polite Human Resources (HR) chat.
Reports say it was heated. They demanded his phone. Called him a “liar” to his face. Told him he was out immediately.
The board, known for its conservative and disciplined leadership culture, wasn’t playing around. Especially not after the string of executive exits Nestlé had already suffered that year.
What happened to the women?
As the dust settled, the aftermath looked like a quiet reshuffling, except it wasn’t.
The first woman, the one who filed the complaint, reportedly walked away with a healthy severance and has since moved on to a leadership position at another major company.
The second woman, the one allegedly caught in the Zurich hotel room, also left Nestlé, but not before Freixe is said to have arranged a generous exit package for her. That didn’t go unnoticed.
Days later, Freixe reappeared on LinkedIn with a cryptic line “I got my mobile back, I am reachable anytime.”
A not-so-subtle nod to the very moment his career ended.
He also congratulated his successor, though he spelled his name wrong.
The bigger picture: Corporate love, corporate loss
If this all feels a little surreal, that’s because it is. A CEO’s career, spanning 40 years, ended not in a boardroom or a business review, but in a hotel room, uncovered by someone who used to love him, in a company that had trusted him to lead.
And for Malaysians who’ve grown up with Nestlé as a pantry staple, from Maggi to Milo, it’s a strange reminder that even global giants are vulnerable to very human messes.
What’s next for Nestlé?
The new CEO, Philipp Navratil, is a company veteran known for turning around the Nespresso brand. He’s seen as steady, strategic, and, importantly, scandal-free.
But he’s stepping into more than just a new office. Nestlé is facing pressure from all directions, in which falling sales volumes, tariff hikes on key products like coffee and Nespresso and now, a major reputational bruise.
Still, if there’s one thing global brands like Nestlé know how to do, it’s to weather storms. Quietly. Strategically. And with a fresh press release.
Just don’t expect Freixe to be part of it.
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