McLaren ?supremo' Dennis demoted McLaren supremo Dennis demoted By Editor on Friday, April 26, 2013 According to a specialist publication, Ron Dennis has been demoted at McLaren. Although still referred to as the famous British teams supremo, the 65-year-old succeeded by Martin Whitmarsh stepped down as McLaren team principal some years ago. He also sold half of his 30 per cent stake in the Woking based company to the Bahrain investment vehicle Mumtalakat Holding, and most recently has been focused on McLarens road car production subsidiary. And according to Auto Motor und Sport, it is the road car business, and the extent of Bahrains new influence at McLaren, that has resulted in Dennis latest demotion. The German magazine reports that Dennis has lost his voting rights on the McLaren Group board, leaving him only a non-executive member due to his status as co-owner. Auto Motor und Sport said Bahrain is angry because Dennis pet project, McLaren Automotive, is losing rather than making money. Instead of the planned 3,500 units, only half of that are sold, wrote correspondents Michael Schmidt and Bianca Leppert. The Bahrainis are seeing their money disappear, never to return, they added, estimating Bahrains losses in the hundreds of millions. Or... maybe not? BBC Sport - McLaren deny that Ron Dennis has been demoted McLaren said in a statement that Dennis remained as chairman of both boards, remained a "significant shareholder" of both companies, that his change of role was chosen by Dennis himself and that Automotive was on track to return a profit this year. F1 insiders have said that relations between Dennis and his fellow shareholder and long-time partner Mansour Ojjeh have soured to such an extent that Ojjeh and the Bahraini government's investment arm Mumtalakat, which owns 50% of McLaren Group, are considering ousting him. There are also claims Dennis has tried to oust Martin Whitmarsh as principal of the F1 team and regain that position himself. Dennis insisted to BBC Sport that was all "categorically untrue" and said there was no doubt that he would see out the terms of his contract with McLaren, which runs through 2014, and may well continue longer than that. He and Ojjeh each own 25% of McLaren Group, with Mumtalakat owning the remaining 50%.
He is an old man, seen all his dreams come to fruition in spades, cashed out and yet is still an owner. Seems to me he is a winner no matter what his title at a company he still OWNS.
I think you will find he has been 'demoted' if this article is to be believed..... Daily News and Comment: Friday 26th April 2013 | thejudge13
Really interesting article. Clearly there's some PR jockeying going on with the investors. Not sure it helps their purpose though. They're a private company. Why do a public spat? Best to keep the dirty laundry in the hamper than on the front porch.
Not that its an unbiased source but if you read Ecclestones biography he says Dennins is just a garragista(mechanic) and not a serious buisness man. I do see a lot of low mileage used Mclarens for sale, maybe thier owners hope fr ferrari like resale prices. Its a pity they dont have Gordon Murray on board, I think the mp12 would have been more of a hit with his input. As it is the car comes close to ferrari but no cigar.
