Harley-Davidson board member resigns, cites 'grave concerns' about company

(Reuters) - A Harley-Davidson director has resigned after expressing "grave concerns" about the current state of the company in a letter to the motorcycle maker's board.

Shares of the company tumbled about 11% in morning trading on Thursday.

Jared Dourdeville - the board member who represents Harley's second-largest shareholder, H Partners - said in the letter that the company had experienced "cultural depletion" due to the departure of senior leaders and its remote working policies.

He had also called for the resignation of CEO Jochen Zeitz and two other directors, the letter showed.

In response, Harley said on Thursday that Dourdeville voted against the board on its decision to not extend an offer to his preferred CEO candidate and that he resigned before a scheduled meeting to discuss his demands.

Dourdeville did not immediately respond to a request for comment on LinkedIn.

The company on Tuesday announced Zeitz' plan to retire from the motorcycle maker in 2025 and said that he would stay on until a replacement was found.

Harley has struggled to gain traction with younger riders as its key customer base of baby boomers are aging. To offset some of the profitability strain, the company has updated its 2025 lineup to include higher-margin Touring bikes and sharpen focus on custom-vehicle operations targeted at its more affluent customers.

(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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