Sep 23, 2019
Ocado co-founder rejects ‘ludicrous’ espionage claim
"Ocado's use of terms like 'espionage' is ludicrous and symptomatic of their approach," said a spokesman for Today Development Partners, in response to statements made by Ocado's chairman Stuart Rose. Last week, a judge ordered the release of previously confidential court papers that lifted the lid on a bitter struggle between TDP chief executive Jonathan Faiman, who was a co-founder of Ocado and its chief operating officer until 2010, and his former employer. The row hinges on claims that Mr Faiman induced Jonathan Hillary, another senior Ocado executive, to join TDP and help establish it as a direct competitor to Ocado. According to court documents, Mr Faiman and Mr Hillary allegedly attended meetings under pseudonyms to pitch TDP's services to Marks and Spencer while Mr Hillary was still employed by Ocado. Jason Gissing, the third member of the triumvirate, left in 2014 but Mr Steiner is still chief executive of Ocado, which is now a member of the FTSE 100 index with a market value of £9.25bn. Ocado said in a statement that the proceedings would have no material adverse financial impact and that it was "Completely confident" of victory.
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