BT CEO in last chance saloon as investors voice concern

New criticism of BT CEO has emerged, with some investors questioning his position at the helm as share price drops to the lowest point for six years.

According to the FT, five investors have requested a meeting with no-nonsense Chairperson Jan du Plessis to discuss whether Patterson is the right person to lead the transformation of the BT machine after numerous scandals and poor performances littering the record books in recent years. This is not the first time Patterson’s role has come into question, but calls for a change are starting to become louder.

“I don’t have much faith in Gavin,” one shareholder said. “Since he took over, it has not been a happy time for shareholders. I am not sure he is the right man for the job.”

“Shareholders are worn out,” another said.

Patterson seemed to have the ambition to take BT back to the promised lands of profitability, but delivery on the grand plan was somewhat lacking. When he took over, five years ago, BT was already struggling, and a vision to wrestle control of the content world out of the hands of the dominant Sky was the plan to turn fortunes around. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as the BT content mission doesn’t look to be anything more than an expensive mistake now with subscription numbers heading in the wrong direction.

This might be the downfall of Patterson, as while other attempts at diversification might have been forgiven, the billions and billions spent on sub-par delivery cannot be over-looked. In truth, Sport promised and delivered, but the BT approach was fundamentally flawed. Subscribers were tempted in on the promise of football, but for the rest of the week the BT platform was mediocre at best.

Sky spent years developing a platform which was rich in content, for all demographics and moods of the individuals. It has something for every person in the family, and an intuitive interface, two aspects which complete the experience. Football is the poster-boy of the Sky content promise, but it is by no-means the only factor. Patterson and the BT content team didn’t take this into account, and now the CEO is seemingly being punished for it.

Of course this is not the only failing of Patterson over the years. The accounting scandal in Italy cannot be forgotten, neither can a quickly disintegrating relationship with regulators which should not be viewed as anything but negative. There have been some positives to take out of the last five-years, but it seems for investors, nowhere near enough.