Shares in AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN) have bounced back after falling on a report that chief executive Pascal Soriot is looking to step down, possibly as soon as next year.
Following a steep 4.1% drop on Monday morning, which wiped almost £7 billion of value off the largest FTSE 100 company's shares, today saw a rebound of 1.9% to 10,700p by lunchtime, though still below the 10,830p where they finished last week.
The Frenchman, who has been in the role since 2012, has reportedly told friends that he is considering leaving "as soon as next year", the Daily Mail reported over the weekend, though there was said to be "no firm timeline" and that nothing had yet been communicated to the pharmaceuticals company's board or chairman.
Some analysts seemed to be sceptical about Soriot's departure.
Those at Barclays said: "We'd like to think that ongoing head of Biopharma R&D Mene Pangalos likely has a better perspective on this topic, who noted in Monday's Times that, 'Pascal has got a lot of years ahead of him and he works as hard and as intensely as he did when I first met him in 2012'."
Soriot himself said last year "I can keep doing this job for many years".
Similar reports of Soriot's departure in 2018 proved to be, paraphrasing Mark Twain, greatly exaggerated.
At the time, it was rumoured that the pharma giant had hired headhunters to initiate an internal search for Soriot’s successor, with investors also reputedly calling for a succession plan for finance chief Marc Dunoyer, who was replaced as CFO by Aradhana Sarin in August 2021.
Frontrunners for the top spot were said to include Mene Pangalos, who heads up AZ’s biopharma R&D unit but recently announced plans to retire next year.
Ruud Dobber, who was the company’s North American chief and has since moved to head up the biopharma unit, was also tipped at the time.
David Fredrickson, boss of the oncology unit, has been touted as a new internal suggestion - the man who has been described as Soriot's “blue-eyed boy”, though it is likely he would need to move from his current main family home in Australia.
Sharon Barr, who leads the biopharmaceuticals R&D effort, or Iskra Reic of the vaccines and immune therapies division, are also potential candidates from the senior management team.
The list of potential external successors is potentially even larger and it is likely that headhunting firms have several suggestions if they are hired.