Klaus Kleinfeld resigns from Morgan Stanley board

Talk about a bad work week.

Klaus Kleinfeld, who was ousted from the top job at Arconic at the start of the week, has resigned from the board of Morgan Stanley.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, the bank said that Mr Kleinfeld had resigned from the board “effective immediately” and that he would not stand for election at the annual shareholders meeting in May. He had joined the board in May 2012.

Mr Kleinfeld’s job leading Aronic, the specialised metals and components company that split from Alcoa last year, had been under threat since the start of the year when activist investor Elliott Management began pressuring the company for better corporate governance, including a new chief executive.

However, Arconic continued to bat for its chief until Mr Kleinfeld sent Elliott founder Paul Singer an unauthorised letter that alluded to Mr Singer’s time at the 2006 World Cup.

Elliott said the letter “read as a threat to intimidate or extort a senior officer of Elliott Management based on completely false insinuations”. Arconic said the action exhibited “poor judgment” on his part when it announced on Monday that Mr Kleinfeld would be stepping down as chairman, chief executive and board member at the company.

Mr Kleinfeld continues to serve on the board of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and the US Russia Business Council. He is also a trustee at the World Economic Forum and co-vice chair at Partnership for New York City.