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"In February 2021, the company announced that it was considering selling or abandoning use of the Standard Life name.[16][17] In April 2021, the company announced that – having sold the Standard Life Insurance business to Phoenix in 2018 and having sold the Standard Life name to Phoenix in 2021[18] – it would be rebranding as abrdn.[19] The new brand, pronounced "Aberdeen" and developed by the branding agency Wolff Olins, was criticised as difficult to pronounce, but was said by chief executive Stephen Bird to reflect a "clarity of focus".[20] Part of the motivation was that the Aberdeen.com domain was owned by another business.[21] The change of name and the rebranding took place in July 2021.[22] The name was met with widespread ridicule and was the butt of online jokes. An online poll of investors described the rebrand as an "act of corporate insanity".[23][24][25] In 2024, Peter Branner, Abrdn's chief investment officer, accused the media of being "childish" for ridiculing the disemvowelled name and said that the company was a victim of "corporate bullying".[21]"
CEO Stephen Bird wanted to sell the entire investment business in 2022. The board forbade it. Investors pulled 10 billion Euro in 2022 and 13 billion in 2023, leading Mr. Bird to receive an 800,000 Euro bonus - a mere third of his desired reward (and pretty much the chauffeur allowance for the average American CEO).
Comments
Shouldn’t they call it the abrdn mrging markts dividnd fund?
"In February 2021, the company announced that it was considering selling or abandoning use of the Standard Life name.[16][17] In April 2021, the company announced that – having sold the Standard Life Insurance business to Phoenix in 2018 and having sold the Standard Life name to Phoenix in 2021[18] – it would be rebranding as abrdn.[19] The new brand, pronounced "Aberdeen" and developed by the branding agency Wolff Olins, was criticised as difficult to pronounce, but was said by chief executive Stephen Bird to reflect a "clarity of focus".[20] Part of the motivation was that the Aberdeen.com domain was owned by another business.[21] The change of name and the rebranding took place in July 2021.[22] The name was met with widespread ridicule and was the butt of online jokes. An online poll of investors described the rebrand as an "act of corporate insanity".[23][24][25] In 2024, Peter Branner, Abrdn's chief investment officer, accused the media of being "childish" for ridiculing the disemvowelled name and said that the company was a victim of "corporate bullying".[21]"
CEO Stephen Bird wanted to sell the entire investment business in 2022. The board forbade it. Investors pulled 10 billion Euro in 2022 and 13 billion in 2023, leading Mr. Bird to receive an 800,000 Euro bonus - a mere third of his desired reward (and pretty much the chauffeur allowance for the average American CEO).
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1413594/000110465924099729/a24-9596_2497.htm
This is a nice turn of the phrase.