Factbox-Who is Remy Cointreau's new CEO, Franck Marilly?
(Reuters) -French wines and spirits company Remy Cointreau announced on Wednesday that Franck Marilly will replace CEO Eric Vallat who resigned earlier this year.
Marilly will take up his new role on June 25, after a transition period working with Vallat.
WHO IS HE?
Marilly, 59, is from France and has more than 30 years of experience working in luxury and cosmetics groups. He is a graduate of the EDC Paris Business School.
Having lived and worked internationally, he said in a press release he has a deep attachment to the land in south-west France, where he is from and where the Cognac region is located.
CAREER
Marilly started his career in the luxury industry as a general manager for a division of the fragrance group Chanel in 1991.
He worked for consumer goods giant Unilever between 1994 and 2001, first as managing director of the cosmetics export division then managing cosmetics for Spain and Portugal followed by France and Belgium.
Marilly came back to Chanel to be managing director of the Italian and then French market before being promoted to senior vice president of U.S. fashion. In 2010, he returned to Europe to become the continent's managing director for Chanel's fragrance and beauty until 2017.
Before joining Remy Cointreau, he was working for Japan's Shiseido as President and CEO and Chairman of the EMEA and global fragrance division.
In February, he was also appointed as Foreign Trade Adviser of France.
WHAT'S THE PLAN?
Marilly will have to lead the French cognac maker through a period of sales decline and tariff threats in its key U.S. and Chinese markets.
"We are convinced that he will bring a new dynamic and will be able to confidently address the new challenges of the Group's growth in a complex macroeconomic and geopolitical context," Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Marie-Amélie de Leusse said in a press release.
Remy makes some 70% of its sales from cognac, mostly in the U.S. and China, but right now, drinkers in those nations are not buying the brandy and sales have fallen.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
11 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A soccer mystery: Why mighty China fails at the world's biggest sport
Li Tie, then head coach of the Chinese national soccer team, looks on during a training session in Shanghai, China on May 11, 2020.(Chinatopix via AP) FILE - Japan's Takumi Minamino and China's Liu Yangyi compete for the ball during a World Cup and AFC Asian Qualifier between Japan and China at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, north of Tokyo, on Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File) FIEL - Then Vice President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China kicks a football during visit to Croke Park Stadium, Dublin, Ireland on Feb. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Brendan Moran, Pool, File) A Booster T1 robot from Booster Robotics prepares to kick a football during a demonstration to the Zhongguancun Forum at the Zhongguancun International Innovation Center in Beijing, China, on March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) FILE - A Chinese soccer fan cheers for his team before their AFC Asian Cup group A soccer match against Qatar in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) FILE - A Chinese soccer fan cheers for his team before their AFC Asian Cup group A soccer match against Qatar in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) Li Tie, then head coach of the Chinese national soccer team, looks on during a training session in Shanghai, China on May 11, 2020.(Chinatopix via AP) FILE - Japan's Takumi Minamino and China's Liu Yangyi compete for the ball during a World Cup and AFC Asian Qualifier between Japan and China at Saitama Stadium 2002 in Saitama, north of Tokyo, on Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File) FIEL - Then Vice President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China kicks a football during visit to Croke Park Stadium, Dublin, Ireland on Feb. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Brendan Moran, Pool, File) A Booster T1 robot from Booster Robotics prepares to kick a football during a demonstration to the Zhongguancun Forum at the Zhongguancun International Innovation Center in Beijing, China, on March 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) FILE - A Chinese soccer fan cheers for his team before their AFC Asian Cup group A soccer match against Qatar in Doha, Qatar, on Jan. 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) In April, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited a company that makes humanoid robots. There he floated an idea to fix the country's woeful men's soccer team. 'Can we have robots join the team?' Xi was quoted as saying on the website of Zhiyuan Robotics. Advertisement It might be too late. China will be out of World Cup qualifying if it fails to beat Indonesia on Thursday. Even a victory may only delay the departure. What's the problem? China has 1.4 billion people, the globe's second largest economy and won 40 Olympic gold medals last year in Paris to tie the United States. Why can't it find 11 elite men's soccer players? How soccer explains a bit of China The government touches every aspect of life in China. That top-down control has helped China become the largest manufacturer of everything from electronics to shoes to steel. It has tried to run soccer, but that rigid governance hasn't worked. Advertisement 'What soccer reflects is the social and political problems of China," Zhang Feng, a Chinese journalist and commentator, tells The Associated Press. "It's not a free society. It doesn't have the team-level trust that allows players to pass the ball to each other without worrying.' Zhang argues that politics has stalled soccer's growth. And there's added pressure since Xi's a big fan and has promised to resuscitate the game at home. Soccer is a world language with its 'own grammar,' says Zhang, and China doesn't speak it. 'In China, the more emphasis the leader places on soccer, the more nervous the society gets, the more power the bureaucrats get, and the more corrupt they become," Zhang adds. Xi Jinping's dream — or nightmare? Advertisement After China defeated Thailand 2-1 in 2023, Xi joked with Srettha Thavisin, the Thai prime minister at the time. "I feel luck was a big part of it,' Xi said. The consensus is clear. China has too few quality players at the grass roots, too much political interference from the Communist Party, and there's too much corruption in the local game. Wang Xiaolei, another prominent Chinese commentator, suggests that soccer clashes with China's top-down governance and the emphasis on rote learning. 'What are we best at? Dogma," Wang wrote in a blog last year. 'But football cannot be dogmatic. What are we worst at? Inspiring ingenuity, and cultivating passion.' Advertisement Soccer is bigger than China The latest chapter in China's abysmal men's soccer history was a 7-0 loss last year to geopolitical rival Japan. 'The fact that this defeat can happen and people aren't that surprised — despite the historical animosity — just illustrates the problems facing football in China," says Cameron Wilson, a Scot who has worked in China for 20 years and written extensively about the game there. China has qualified for only one men's World Cup. That was 2002 when it went scoreless and lost all three matches. Soccer's governing body FIFA places China at No. 94 in its rankings — behind war-torn Syria and ahead of No. 95 Benin. Advertisement For perspective: Iceland is the smallest country to reach the World Cup. Its latest population estimate is almost 400,000. The website Soccerway tracks global football and doesn't show a single Chinese player in a top European league. The national team's best player is forward Wu Lei, who played for three seasons in Spain's La Liga for Espanyol. The club's majority owner in Chinese. The 2026 World Cup will have a field of 48 teams, a big increase on the 32 in 2022, yet China still might not make it. China will be eliminated from qualification if it loses to Indonesia. Even if it wins, China must also beat Bahrain on June 10 to have any hope of advancing to Asia's next qualifying stage. Advertisement An outsider views Chinese soccer Englishman Rowan Simons has spent almost 40 years in China and gained fame doing television commentary in Chinese on English Premier League matches. He also wrote the 2008 book 'Bamboo Goalposts.' China is benefiting from reforms over the last decade that placed soccer in schools. But Simons argues that soccer culture grows from volunteers, civil society and club organizations, none of which can flourish in China since they are possible challengers to the rule of the Communist Party. 'In China at the age of 12 or 13, when kids go to middle school, it's known as the cliff,' he says. "Parents may allow their kids to play sports when they're younger, but as soon as it comes to middle school the academic pressure is on — things like sport go by the wayside.' Advertisement To be fair, the Chinese women's team has done better than the men. China finished runner-up in the 1999 Women's World Cup but has faded as European teams have surged with built-in expertise from the men's game. Spain won the 2023 Women's World Cup. China was knocked out early, battered 6-1 by England in group play. China has been successful targeting Olympic sports, some of which are relatively obscure and rely on repetitive training more than creativity. Olympic team sports like soccer offer only one medal. So, like many countries, China focuses on sports with multiple medals. In China's case it's diving, table tennis and weightlifting. 'For young people, there's a single value — testing well,' says Zhang, the commentator and journalist. "China would be OK if playing soccer were only about bouncing the ball 1,000 times." The face of corruption Advertisement Li Tie, the national team coach for about two years beginning in January 2020, was last year sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery and match fixing. Other top administrators have also been accused of corruption. The graft also extended to the domestic Super League. Clubs spent millions — maybe billions — on foreign talents backed by many state-owned businesses and, before the collapse of the housing boom, real-estate developers. The poster child was Guangzhou Evergrande. The eight-time Super League champions, once coached by Italian Marcello Lippi, was expelled from the league and disbanded earlier this year, unable to pay off its debts. Zhang says businessmen invested in professional soccer teams as a 'political tribute" and cited Hui Ka-yan. The embattled real estate developer financed the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club and used soccer to win favor from politicians. Advertisement Property giant Evergrande has amassed debts reported at $300 billion, reflective of China's battered property segment and the general health of the economy. 'China's failure at the international level and corruption throughout the game, these are all factors that lead parents away from letting their kids get involved,' says Simons, who founded a youth soccer club called China Club Football FC. 'Parents look at what's going on and question if they want their kids to be involved. It's sad and frustrating.' ___ Wade reported from Tokyo and Tang from Washington. ___ AP soccer:
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Two Chinese researchers charged with smuggling biological pathogen to study at University of Michigan lab
Two Chinese researchers were charged with smuggling a biological pathogen that they planned to study at a University of Michigan lab, a complaint filed Tuesday says. Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, were charged with conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements and visa fraud for bringing in the fungus Fusarium graminearum from China, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Fusarium graminearum is described as 'a potential agroterrorism weapon' that can cause disease in certain plants like corn, rice and barley, and is 'responsible for billions of dollars in economic loss worldwide each year,' an FBI affidavit in support of the complaint says. The charges come as the Trump administration is looking to revoke visas for Chinese students, especially those with alleged 'connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week. The State Department has zeroed in on any potential wrongdoing from academics across the country in the last several months, including a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryo remains. FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that the case is 'a sobering reminder that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences.' The affidavit doesn't specify what Jian and Liu's intentions were in studying the fungus. CNN reached out to the Federal Community Defender of the Eastern District of Michigan, who represents Jian, for comment. Jian, who was arrested by the FBI, remains in custody. Liu is not currently in the US, said Gina Balaya, public information officer for the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Liu, who is a researcher at Zhejiang University in China, tried to bring in multiple samples of the fungus during a trip with a tourist visa in July 2024 and hadn't applied for a permit to bring it in, the affidavit says. Jian, his girlfriend, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory at the University of Michigan, and previously worked at a university in Texas since August 2022, the affidavit says. Authorities found evidence that during her time at the two universities, the Chinese government funded her research on Fusarium graminearum at Zhejiang University, the affidavit says. Files found on Jian's phone included a signed 'annual self-assessment form' from the university, which described her research accomplishments from the previous year as well as an oath to follow the principles of the CCP, the affidavit says. Radio Free Asia previously reported on the practice, saying 'tens of thousands' of Chinese students using government-backed scholarships were required to sign the document. When Liu was questioned at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport in July 2024, he initially claimed he didn't know what the materials containing the fungus were, but eventually admitted he intentionally hid the samples and planned to clone different strains at the University of Michigan lab where Jian worked, the affidavit says. Several devices seized from Liu, the affidavit says, showed messages where he coordinated with Jian to smuggle biological samples and other materials for the July 2024 trip as well as for a trip two years earlier. The University of Michigan said in a statement Tuesday they 'strongly condemn any actions that seek to cause harm, threaten national security or undermine the university's critical public mission,' and noted they recieved no funding from the Chinese government in relation to those charged. Jian appeared in court Tuesday but didn't enter a plea, Balaya said. She is scheduled to be in court for a detention hearing Thursday.
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China criticises Rubio remarks on 1989 Tiananmen protests
BEIJING (Reuters) -The United States, in its commemoration of the Tiananmen protests in 1989, "distorted" historical facts and attacked China's political system, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday. China has lodged a complaint to the U.S. side, Lin Jian, spokesperson at the Chinese ministry, said at a regular news conference. Chinese tanks rolled into the square on June 4, 1989, and troops opened fire to end pro-democracy demonstrations. The Communist Party has never released a death toll, though rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into the thousands. "Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday. "The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget," he said.
