Edward Rogers — Ted's only son — appears for now to have the upper hand against his mother and sisters in the struggle for control of Canada's biggest wireless company
“It’s like a family business in its worst form,” said Kai Li, a professor of finance at the University of British Columbia who teaches courses on mergers and acquisitions.
Edward’s sisters — Melinda Rogers-Hixon and Martha Rogers — and mother — Loretta Rogers, Ted’s widow — joined other directors in siding with Natale and blocking the change. They also took unprecedented measures to limit Edward’s authority, including removing him as chairman on Oct. 21. The problems include sluggish growth in wireless network revenue; a loss of roaming revenue due to Covid-19 travel curbs; and a media division that’s barely profitable and carries the weight of an expensive rights contract with the National Hockey League.But Edward Rogers has also earned a reputation for meddling and undermining the company’s senior executives, even before the latest chapter with Natale.
“The chair wants to run the company, believes he does run the company, and no CEO or management team can operate effectively under these conditions,” the directors said in the letter.The family’s arguments and the company’s structure, which concentrates the power in Rogers family members, have become a drag on the wireless firm’s shares, said Norman Levine, managing director of Portfolio Management Corp., a Toronto-based investment firm.
But the story doesn’t end there because of peculiarity of Edward’s other role. He’s also chairman of the Rogers Control Trust, the private entity that controls about 97% of the voting shares at Rogers Communications, a stake worth C$6.7 billion . Martha Rogers said Saturday they would spend “every penny defending the company, employees and Ted’s wishes” against her brother’s boardroom play.
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