Edward Rogers has won a victory in the Supreme Court of British Columbia that gives him the right to make management changes at the giant telecommunications company founded by his late father Ted Rogers.
Justice Shelley Fitzpatrick ruled late Friday that Rogers acted legally when he removed five directors from the Rogers Communications (T.RCI.B) board of directors and replaced them with five others. The company had opposed the move and argued in court that Mr. Rogers was legally bound to hold a shareholders meeting before making changes to the board.
In a statement, Mr. Rogers said he took "no joy" in the events that have transpired over the past several weeks at the Canadian telecommunications giant.
Rogers added that "much has been written about Rogers CEO Joe Natale and his future. Mr. Natale remains CEO and a director of Rogers Communications and has the board’s support."
In a statement issued Sunday night, Rogers Communications said it will not seek an appeal of Justice Fitzpatrick’s decision.
In overhauling the board, Rogers acted in his capacity as chair of the Rogers Control Trust, the body that controls the Rogers family's 97.5% voting control of the company.
Since the board controversy began, Edward Rogers has made no secret of his desire to remove Joe Natale from the CEO position and replace him with Tony Staffieri, the company's former chief financial officer.
It has come to light that Mr. Rogers’ mother as well as sisters Martha and Melinda Rogers oppose his plan to oust Natale.
Rogers’ board removed Mr. Rogers as its chair on October 21 and Rogers responded with the overhaul of the board that was at dispute in the British Columbia Supreme Court.
In an affidavit supporting his petition to the court, Rogers included internal company documents that detailed his plan to not only replace Natale with Staffieri as CEO, but also to replace the chief operating officers of Rogers’ wireless and cable units.
The affidavit also contained several tables and charts that Rogers said supported his view that the company has underperformed its two main competitors – BCE and Telus - during Natale's tenure as CEO.
