Chaos in the SCOTT headquarters: replacement of their CEO to "update" the brand

On March 29, 2024, a change in the Board of Directors of Scott Sports was announced, the CEO and founder of the brand Beat Zaugg has been replaced by Juwon Kim, a member of the Board since 2022 and founder of Youngone, the majority shareholder of Scott Corp. But in a recent statement, Zaugg stated that he remains the current CEO.

Scott Sports announces a CEO change "to update" the brand

Since 2015, the South Korean investment group and provider of other sports brands, Youngone, acquired 50.01% of Scott's shares. Since then, they have been the majority partner while the Swiss Beat Zaugg, founder and former CEO of the brand until yesterday, owns 47% of the company.

At the end of 2023, it was revealed that Youngone provided a loan to Scott of 150 million Swiss francs (about 155 million euros) to stabilize and boost the brand's financial arm after the turbulent years following the pandemic.

And it seems that this injection of liquidity has been supported by the recent change in their CEO. On March 29, a report published on Bicycleretailer stated that the Board of Directors of Scott Sports replaced CEO Beat Zaugg "to refresh Scott's development and become a world-class cycling manufacturer and other outdoor sports categories".

Juwon Kim will be the new CEO of Scott Corp, he has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2022 and has 17 years of experience in investment banking with various international banks and was a co-founder of Youngone, a startup in Korea. Kim will be advised by Steve Meineke and Mathias Seidler, both with extensive executive experience in the cycling sector.

In the press release from Scott Sports, Youngone expressed confidence in the current management and employees: "Their commitment and professionalism will significantly benefit the company during this transition phase". "The Scott board emphasizes that the long-standing commitment of the majority shareholder Youngone to Scott remains central and unquestioned".

Beat Zaugg does not accept the change and claims to still be the CEO

All communication comes from the official Scott channel and the management change has been formalized, but on his part, Beat Zaugg made statements to a local media in which he claims that he remains the CEO of the company.

"I am the boss. I am the CEO of Scott Corporation and Scott Sports. And I own 47 percent of the shares". Beat Zaugg told Ride-MTB.com.

So far, there has been no further response from the official Scott channel and the change is considered concluded.