How Sanofi got rid of its chief exec

Paris

CHRIS Viehbacher speaks plainly. "We had somewhat of a mess in Brazil, so that's why I decided to change management," he told financial analysts in August 2013.

Fifteen months later, he has gone the same way as the Brazilian employees he sacked so decisively - fired as chief executive of French drugmaker Sanofi at a dawn board meeting, with the "mess in Brazil" cited as one of the reasons.