Last orders for Diageo boss after failure to lift spirits

"Pure Genius", the slogan long used to sell Guinness, is now desperately needed by the black stuff's parent. Diageo last week parted company with its chief executive, Debra Crew, by mutual agreement after just two years in the job.

- By Matthew Bishop

Such a sudden ending in the corporate world is rarely a good sign, suggesting a fundamental disagreement over strategy, if not something worse. Days before her departure Crew had told the chair, Sir John Manzoni, her position had been made untenable by the board's failure to quash speculation that finance boss Nik Jhangiani was pitching for the job.