Andrew Forrest partied as latest leadership thunder struck
In the end, Fiona Hick spent more time weighing up whether to take the job of Fortescue chief executive than she did in the job itself.
As hundreds of guests slurped down oysters in the middle of the Pilbara outback on Saturday night as part of Fortescue’s 20th anniversary celebrations, few of them would have known the bombshell the company was about to drop just 36 hours later.
Fortescue’s billionaire founder Andrew Forrest arrived at the company’s anniversary party at the Solomon mining hub riding on the front of one of the mine’s giant dust-encrusted haul trucks, waving an oversized Fortescue flag while AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blared over the speakers. It was a typically grand entrance by the master salesman, and it gave no clue that the mining company’s leadership was about to be thrown into flux once more.
Fiona Hick was there in the crowd as Forrest lapped up his time on centre stage, listening on as the man known as Twiggy heaped praise on all the people who had helped him build Fortescue into the heavyweight miner it is today. But amid all the festivities, and with Jimmy Barnes blasting out hits like Khe Sanh and Working Class Man, Hick was struggling to put on a brave face given the uncertainty swirling over her role as the CEO of Fortescue Metals.
The behind-the-scenes leadership tumult did nothing to dent Forrest’s enthusiasm. The formal anniversary proceedings had finished at 10pm, but Forrest had continued on to an after-party. He was the last person to leave the dance floor at some time around 2.30am.
Hours later, as hundreds of guests who were dusty both literally and metaphorically were flown back across the country, Fortescue formally ticked off Hick’s immediate departure from the company “by mutual agreement”. She had been CEO for exactly six months.
The shock decision was the culmination of discussions that took place over several weeks leading up to Sunday. Few outside the upper echelons of Fortescue knew what was going on: ultimately, the Monday release of the company’s annual report had to be delayed as the document was updated to reflect the sudden changes.
Before finally agreeing to take on the role late last year, Hick had grappled for some time with her decision. She was aware of the procession of departures from Fortescue, the intensity of Forrest, and his increasingly hands-on role with the company.
Hick had been at her previous employer, Woodside Energy, for more than 20 years. She took the Fortescue role expecting to be there for the long term.
In the end, she spent longer weighing up whether to take the job than she did in the actual role itself.
The scale and frequency of high-profile departures at Fortescue – no fewer than 10 senior executives and directors in the past few years – has now reached a point that is impossible to ignore. While Hick was remaining tight-lipped about the reasons behind her departure, a picture is building among the many who have parted ways with Fortescue and the broader Forrest universe.
“It’s getting increasingly impossible to be an autonomous executive,” said a source close to one of the recently departed figures.
One analyst told The Australian he had always been surprised that Hick took on the role, given Forrest’s increasingly tight grip on the management of the company.
“If you speak to anyone who has left there, they will all tell you the same story,” he said.
“Maybe she just hadn’t appreciated how controlling Forrest was over the company.”
Hick is vacating the role without another job already lined up. She leaves behind a salary package that could have resulted in her earning up to $7.5m a year.
Among the crowd on Saturday night were former chief executive Nev Power and former chief financial officer Stephen Pearce. The pair were at the helm of the company during what – at least before now – was one of its most turbulent periods, when it was smashed by a sharp fall in iron ore prices right when it was carrying its highest level of debt.
Power and Pearce navigated the company through that period and, by the time they were done, Fortescue had significantly increased its production, cut its costs, and all but wiped out its debt, setting it up to become the cash machine it has been in recent years.
It is clear they benefited significantly from being given high levels of freedom to run the company in their own way. Forrest had been consumed by his philanthropic endeavours at that time and had stepped back considerably from the day-to-day operations.
When Forrest saw Power and Pearce on Saturday night, he ran over and gave both enormous hugs. Unlike many who have left the company in recent years, the admiration is mutual and genuine.
As he looks to restore much-needed stability to the company, Forrest could do well to remember some of the lessons from those years.
More Coverage
