DOW Dow Inc

By Austen Hufford 

DuPont de Nemours Inc. said Tuesday that it is bringing back as its chief executive Edward D. Breen, an architect of the megamerger and spinoff that left a smaller industrial-materials maker struggling to generate sales growth.

DuPont said its board had decided to remove Chief Executive Marc Doyle and Chief Financial Officer Jeanmarie Desmond less than a year after they assumed those roles. Mr. Breen, the company's executive chairman, was named chief executive, and Lori D. Koch, previously head of investor relations, became financial chief.

"We did not meet our own expectations," Mr. Breen said in a statement. "We need to accelerate operational improvement."

Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. agreed to a $120 billion merger in late 2015, setting plans to combine and then split into three separate companies. In addition to DuPont, the materials-science business is now called Dow Inc., and the agriculture business is known as Corteva Inc.

Mr. Breen joined DuPont in 2015, when it was under pressure from Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management LP to break up. Mr. Breen brought Trian into deal discussions with Dow to ensure the activist fund approved of the merger.

DuPont, which makes a diverse array of products including fibers for bulletproof vests and wraps for homes under construction, said last month that sales fell 5% in 2019. The company said it expects demand to remain weak this year for materials including nylon, one of its main products.

DuPont's missteps come during a broader slowdown in U.S. manufacturing and global trade. Other major manufacturing companies, including 3M Co. and Caterpillar Inc., have reported slowdowns in key markets in the U.S. and abroad.

DuPont, in December, said it would spin off its nutrition business and combine it with International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. to make a top supplier of ingredients to food makers.

Write to Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 18, 2020 07:14 ET (12:14 GMT)

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