Founder Of World Economic Forum Klaus Schwab Resigns!

Klaus Schwab, who founded World Economic Forum, a platform for the businessmen and political leaders in the Davos, resigned from the chair of trusteeship.

On Monday, the WEF announced that 87 years old Schwab is going to resign from his post, but failed to mention any particular date of his retirement.

“Following my recent announcement, and as I enter my 88th year, I have decided to step down from the position of Chair and as a member of the Board of Trustees, with immediate effect,” said Klaus Schwab in his latest statement about his acquittal.

However, the forum did not tell about the reasons of his retirement.

The WEF board mentioned that it has accepted the resignation of its founder and Vice President Peter Brabeck-Letmathe will be acting as the interim president while the forum starts searching for the new chair.

Schwab founded the WEF in 1971, with the aim of creating a platform for world’s top executives and policy makers to discuss about the global issues.

The town of Davos got its recognition as the fixed venue for annual gathering of the world’s top leaders, businessmen, statesman, and others.

Criticism

While the importance of WEF was clear. It also came under the criticism of leftist and rightist. They blamed the forum as the talking shop of the haves without recognizing the hardships of the haves not.

Last year, Wall Street Journal reported that WEF board was working with law firm to assess its workplace culture, which had reports of harassments and discriminations. However, the forum denied any such allegations.

Badly affected by the financial crisis of 2007 and 2009, the organization also suffered from geopolitical tensions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While, the protectionist trump administration and its policies also made the organization’s role less effective.

Schwab anticipated the decline of globalization long before the Trump came into power, and Britain decided to exit the European Union in 2016. These events created the shock waves in the economic order of the world.

Schwab with his collegue mentioned in an opinion writeup in 1996 “A mounting backlash against (globalisation’s) effects, especially in the industrial democracies, is threatening a very disruptive impact on economic activity and social stability in many countries,” 

“The mood in these democracies is one of helplessness and anxiety, which helps explain the rise of a new brand of populist politicians.”

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