Former KPN CEO Wim Dik passed away | Financial

After his studies in Delft and Rotterdam, Dik started his career at the care and food group Unilever, where he rose to become chairman of the board of the Dutch Unilever.

Break apart

He was put in charge of Koninklijke PTT Nederland (KPN) when this company had to transform into a private company with tens of thousands of employees, which would eventually split into a telecom and postal division. Under Dik, the company grew into a listed company with a market value of billions of euros.

Under Dik, KPN also invested a lot of money in the acquisition of a young German competitor. It would later turn out that KPN’s debts had risen alarmingly, partly due to this billion-dollar expenditure.

Politics

Dik was also politically active. In the 1970s he was chairman of D66 for a time. In the second and third Van Agt cabinets (1981-1982) he was State Secretary for Economic Affairs. As a resident of Helvoirt in North Brabant, he was active until an advanced age as a list pusher for the local branch of D66.

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