Mondelez CEO Rosenfeld to Step Down -- 2nd Update
August 02 2017 - 9:38AM
Dow Jones News
By Annie Gasparro
Irene Rosenfeld is stepping down after 11 years as chief
executive of Mondelez International Inc., as the snack giant faces
pressure to improve profitability amid an upheaval in the packaged
food business.
Activist investors Nelson Peltz and William Ackman pushed Ms.
Rosenfeld for years to improve profit margins that trail those of
Mondelez's competitors. The Ritz-cracker and Oreo maker earlier
this year hired an executive search firm to help find her
successor, The Wall Street Journal reported in April. Ms.
Rosenfeld, 64, had said previously that she had no plans to
retire.
Amidst the broader struggles of packaged food in the U.S., other
big companies have also named new chiefs this year, including
General Mills Inc. and Hershey Co.
Dirk Van de Put, head of privately held Canadian company McCain
Foods Ltd., will take over for Ms. Rosenfeld in November. Mr. Van
de Put has also worked at Novartis AG, Group Danone, Coca-Cola Co.
and Mars Inc.
Mr. Van de Put will be moving from a $7.3 billion maker of
french fries and other potato products to a $66 billion
conglomerate whose disparate brands stretch from bel Vita biscuits
to Trident gum.
"He is a seasoned global CEO, having lived and worked on three
different continents, with deep experience and expertise in all
critical business and commercial operations in both emerging and
developed markets," Ms. Rosenfeld said.
In all for its second quarter, Mondelez delivered revenue of
$5.9 billion and earnings of 48 cents a share. Analysts polled by
Thomson Reuters expected 45 cents. The company says a June malware
attack decreased organic revenue by more than 2%.
Ms. Rosenfeld's coming retirement will shrink an already small
pool of female chief executives of the biggest U.S. businesses.
As of June, women held 28 of the CEO spots at S&P 500
companies, according to Catalyst, a research group. That represents
5.6% of the total.
Catalyst's latest tally reflects companies in that index as of
January 2017. One woman cited among those 28 CEOs, Tegna Inc.'s
Gracia Martore, retired in June. Her departure, along with Ms.
Rosenfeld's retirement, will decrease the total to 26.
Joann S. Lublin contributed to this article
Write to Annie Gasparro at annie.gasparro@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 02, 2017 09:23 ET (13:23 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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