Siemens Boss Decision

Company numbers, including a 51 percent increase in first-quarter earnings, are good, but they may not be enough to save Kleinfeld's job.

Ahead of the supervisory board's meeting on Wednesday, Siemens refused to comment on whether it would renew the CEO's contract, which expires on Sept. 30.

But various news agencies have reported that some members of the board think it would be inappropriate to keep Kleinfeld on after Siemens was hit by a number of scandals concerning pay-offs to labor representatives. Kleinfeld was not directly implicated in these controversies, but they did happen during his tenure.

Apart from the burgeoning corruption scandal, Kleinfeld, who took over as chief executive about two years ago was also forced to launch a major damage control operation after Taiwanese-owned BenQ filed for insolvency for the loss-making mobile handset operations it bought from Siemens in 2005. Allegations that some Siemens' executives paid kickbacks to secure overseas contracts have also recently surfaced.

New CEO a break with past

"Leading members of the supervisory board believe that replacing the chief executive is the right way to make a fresh start," the daily Financial Times Deutschland cited one source as saying on Tuesday.

Despite assurances from Siemens that it Kleinfeld's contract was on Wednesday's agenda, the paper added that a decision on a successor could be postponed until the next supervisory board meeting in July.

Last week Siemens chairman Heinrich von Pierer announced he was stepping down after 38 years with the company in response to the pay-off allegations. The board is expected to confirm that announcement on Wednesday. Von Pierer is to be replaced by German steel giant ThyssenKrupp chairman Gerhard Cromme.

On Tuesday, it was reported that Linde CEO Wolfgang Reitzle had been approached about possibly succeeding Kleinfeld. But Reitzle has already signaled that he is not interested in the job.