Tragedy leaves long-term management path unclear

Edouard Michelin, co-managing director of the world’s leading tyre group, was killed on Friday in a boating accident off the coast of Brittany.

The 42-year-old father of six had been the effective head of the Michelin group since 1999. His co-managing partner Michel Rollier, who took up the post last year, will remain at the head of the French giant, according to a statement from the family-run company. “Our strategic orientations are clear. They remain unchanged,” said Rollier, who became finance director in 1999. Edouard Michelin’s father, Francois, who took up the reins in 1955, relinquished most of his duties in favour of his son in the 1990s. The longer-term succession, traditionally retained within the family, remains unclear.