Gerhard Cromme, the Supervisory Board Chairman of Siemens, would be leaving the board of German publishing firm Axel Springer. WirtschaftsWoche magazine reported that Cromme would be quitting the board so that he could concentrate on his role at Siemens.

Without citing the source, the business news magazine said Cromme would be leaving the publisher's board on April 16 next year. Axel Springer would be holding its annual general meeting by then. However, a spokeswoman for Axel told Reuters that she had not heard of Cromme's decision to leave. She did confirm that elections for the entire board would be held that day.

According to Reuters, the leadership of Germany's largest engineering firm was put to the test earlier this year. Cromme hired former Chief Executive Officer Peter Loescher who quit in July after Siemen's released its second profit warning for the year. Finance Chief Joe Kaeser took the place of Loescher.

Siemens has activities in the segments of industry, energy, equity investments, healthcare, IT solutions and financial services.