It has never happened to a chief executive of a company in the daxindex of Germany’s 30 largest listed firms. On April 26th 56% of shareholders in Bayer, a chemicals conglomerate, censured Werner Baumann and his management team. Most German bosses can count on nine in ten shareholders to back them in non-binding confidence votes. In 2015 a rebellion by a minority, of 39%, of Deutsche Bank’s owners, who censured Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, led both co-chief executives to announce their resignation.

Bayer shareholders have reason to be mutinous. Its share price has plunged by 40% since its takeover last June of Monsanto. It is now worth less than the $63bn it paid for the American seed-and-chemicals giant. Critics accuse Mr Baumann of infecting a healthy firm with underestimated legal risks related to Roundup, Monsanto’s blockbuster weedkiller.