Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Thursday’s briefing features massive CEO salaries and how to deal with increasing numbers of anti-Semitic attacks.
In the news: Record profits at SWISS; stolen data at the federal administration, and an increase in online spending.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) saw record operating profit of CHF718.5 million ($817 million) last year, following a return to pre-pandemic revenue levels. This was in part due to strong demand for air travel combined with a competitive cost structure, the airline said today.
Personal data, technical and classified information, and passwords were stolen from the federal administration and published on the darknet following a cyberattack on the company Xplain last year. More than 9,000 “data objects” were stolen in May 2023, more than half of which contained sensitive information, according to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It did not explain how the data was accessed.
In Switzerland the proportion of bricks-and-mortar retail has only increased slightly in recent years, while shopping with a smartphone or laptop remains popular and consumer spending per order is increasing. Those who ordered via laptop spent an average of CHF156 per purchase in 2017; today the figure is just under CHF300. When ordering on a smartphone, an average of just over CHF220 is spent; in 2017 it was CHF126.
Swiss CEOs are some of the best paid in Europe, but compared to peers in the United States their salaries look modest. Some people in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry see this as a problem. We crunch the numbers.
This week shareholders of Swiss pharma giant Novartis approved a CHF16.2 million ($18.8 million) pay package for CEO Vas Narasimhan. This is nearly double his compensation in 2022, making him one of the best-paid CEOs in Europe. Still, this pales in comparison to what CEOs at some of the biggest US companies rake in annually. The ten highest-paid CEOs in the USExternal link, including Sundar Pichai of Alphabet and Tim Cook of Apple, each pocketed at least $90 million last year.
In this article, my colleagues Jessica Davis Plüss and Pauline Turuban look at the balancing act facing big multinationals: paying CEOs what is acceptable (to shareholders and society in general) but offering competitive packages to attract the best people. Learn how this balancing act has been a constant challenge for Novartis.
Should the alleged attacker of an Orthodox Jewish man in Zurich lose his Swiss citizenship and be deported? Is it even legally possible?
On Saturday a 50-year-old Orthodox Jewish man was stabbed on the street near the centre of Switzerland’s biggest city, Zurich. The alleged attacker, a 15-year-old with Tunisian origins – he became a Swiss citizen in 2011 – was arrested at the scene after passers-by chased him and pinned him down until police arrived. The victim’s condition, initially life-threatening, has since stabilised. On Monday, police confirmed the authenticity of an online video in which the teenager declared allegiance to Islamic State (IS) and called for a “global war against Jews”. He also said he wanted to “storm a synagogue” and “kill unbelievers on the street”.
Condemnation of the attack came from all quarters, and there has been talk of the attack as a watershed moment marking a new level of anti-Semitism in Switzerland. There have also been calls for the teenager to be stripped of his Swiss citizenship.
In this article my colleague Domhnall O’Sullivan examines the extent of anti-Semitism in Switzerland, whether it is getting worse, and what politicians have done and are doing. He also looks at whether it would be possible to deport the alleged attacker, or whether that would just be “exporting the problem”, as one politician put it.
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