By Jacob Bunge and Doug Cameron
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
CME Group Inc. (CME) said Monday that Chief Executive Craig
Donohue would step down at the end of the year in a surprise
shake-up of the leadership at the world's largest futures exchange
operator.
He will be succeeded when his contract expires in December by
Phupinder Gill, CME's president and longtime operations and
strategy chief.
Donohue was elevated to the CEO role after a boardroom coup, but
people familiar with the situation said there was no internal or
external pressure for his departure, despite the CME being
embroiled in the controversial collapse of broker MF Global.
Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy will take on an expanded role,
assuming Gill's former title as president.
Duffy, an architect of CME's takeover of the Chicago Board of
Trade, has had a more prominent role in defending CME in the wake
of MF Global's collapse.
(This story and related background material will be available on
The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)
A spokeswoman for CME said Donohue's "decision to step down is
unrelated to MF Global and initial discussions with the board"
about his departure "predated that firm's failure."
Donohue oversaw more than $20 billion of acquisitions, including
CBOT and the parent of the New York Mercantile Exchange, which
pushed CME into a global leadership position.
However, CME's share price has slid, like that of peers, from
the heady valuations seen in late 2007, and closed Monday at
$270.20, having peaked above $714 in 2007.
Gill has been with the company since 1988 and became president
in July 2007. Gill also served as president and operating chief of
CME Group's predecessor companies, CME Holdings and CME since
January 2004.
Duffy has served as the company's executive chairman since July
2007. He became chairman of CME and CME Holdings in April 2002 and
became executive chairman in October 2006.
--Aaron Lucchetti and Nathalie Tadena contributed to this
article.