Lots of potential candidates are being touted as the potential new Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) boss on the industry rumour mill, with former EE boss Olaf Swantee favourite and ex-O2 chief Ronan Dunne a hotly tipped outsiders needed to bring the radical change and new blood that investors are craving.
The FTSE 100 telecoms giant parted company with current boss Nick Read earlier this week, which industry insiders said was not a big surprise but the abrupt timing came as a shock.
Following Read's exit, new Vodafone investor Xavier Neil, the Frech billionaire who owns rival Iliad, said changing bosses “only makes sense if the new CEO has a clear roadmap from the board of directors” and called for some major structural changes to the telco.
In recent days, as well as reports of interest for Vodafone’s 60.5% stake in African operator Vodacom, the industry speculation has been rife, with media suggestions that an "energetic outsider" would be attractive to shareholders, rather than another internal promotion of finance chief Margherita Della Valle, who is holding the interim CEO role.
The name of Swantee, who had a short stint as a Vodafone non-exec director, has been mentioned in industry press.
Analysts at Berenberg agreed that the City was seeking new blood, suggesting potential replacements could be current board member Stephen Carter, current boss of Informa PLC and with many years experience in telecoms from Alcatel-Lucent, and former Vodafone UK boss Nick Jeffery could be tempted back from the US, where he has been touting himself as a turnaround specialist.
Telia's Allison Kirkby, who took the helm of the Swedish telco in October 2019 and is a current non-exec at BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A), with experience as group CEO of Denmark's TDC Group and of Stockholm-based Tele2, has been suggested as another outside bet.
Vodafone should be able to bag the biggest of names, says industry analyst Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight.
"Let's not forget that the Vodafone role is a big job right now.
"Arguably Olaf is well placed as he has a proven track record of getting this done with a no-nonsense approach. Vodafone requires radical change and rapid execution."
He added that it felt like Vodafone has been going "too slowly and missed out on opportunities in core markets", with the lack of a successor put in place for Read and with the Three joint venture up in the air, it "reinforces the belief that a change was desperately needed".
"Ultimately a change of approach is needed to satisfy key stakeholders."
He said Dunne, the ex-O2 and Verizon boss is currently chairman of Six Nations Rugby and a NED at Marks & Spencer, is a potential outside bet.
"Anyone coming in will have nothing to lose as the task ahead is a big one. Key strategic decisions will need to made quickly to turnaround the fortunes in core markets. More so as Vodafone continues to lose ground in all markets except for the UK (as things stand)."