Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR)’s chief executive officer (CEO) Alan Jope decision to step down at the end of next year takes FTSE 100 CEO departures in 2022 to nineteen, a churn of one-fifth.
It puts 2022 on course to see the most CEO changes ever in a year on FTSE 100 and that is even before the start of the fourth quarter.
The most blue-chip boss departures in one year were 24 in 2020 with the average number up until around 2019 around a dozen each year.
Here is a list of those on their way this year
- Johnson Matthey - Robert MacLeod replaced by Liam Condon
- Prudential - Mike Wells replaced by Mark FitzPatrick (interim)
- Burberry - Marco Gobbetti replaced by Jonathan Akeroyd
- Smith & Nephew - Roland Diggelmann replaced by Deepak Nath
- Anglo American - Mark Cutifani replaced by Duncan Wanblad
- Taylor Wimpey - Pete Redfern replaced by Jennie Daly
- JD Sports Fashion - Peter Cowgill replaced by Kath Smith (interim)
- Reckitt Benckiser - Laxman Narasimhan has left to be replaced by Nicandro Durante (interim)
Here are the changes that will take effect at or before the end of 2022:
- Shell - Ben van Beurden will step down and Wael Sawan will replace him
- JD Sports Fashion - Kath Smith (interim) will make way for permanent replacement Regis Schultz
Those who announced their exodus but are leaving in 2023:
- Rolls-Royce - Warren East heads off and Tufan Erginbilgic joins
- Prudential - Mark FitzPatrick (interim) leaves and Anil Wadhwani takes over
- Rightmove - Peter Brooks-Johnson, no successor named
- Whitbread - Alison Brittain steps down and Dominic Paul steps up
- B&M European Value Retail - Simon Arora goes and Alex Russo comes in
- United Utilities - Steve Mogford leaves and Louise Beardmore arrives
- Halma - Andrew Williams leaves and Marc Ronchetti joins
- M&G - John Foley retires, no successor named
- Unilever - Alan Jope to leave at the end of 2023, no successor named
Why are so many leaving now?
Shareholder dissatisfaction can be a common reason that bosses at top companies stand down, with poor operational, financial or share price performance.
This could potentially explain the departure of Unilever’s boss Alan Jope, according to AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Retirement seems to be the most frequent explanation, with it definitely being the case for Halma, Anglo American and Taylor Wimpey.
The end of working careers could also be why Shell’s CEOs stepped down, Mould added, but this is yet to be confirmed.
Sometimes, bosses think it’s time for a new challenge, which was what happened with Burberry and Reckitt’s CEOs.
Reckitt’s Laxman Narasimhan, for example, has become Starbucks’ new boss.
Boardroom unrest is another fairly common reason, with it occurring at Smith & Nephew and potentially JD Sports.
Personal reasons can be another common explanation.
Rolls-Royce’s Warren East simply gave up his role as he considered his eight-year stretch as boss and 17 years on the board a long enough tenure.
“Getting out while the going is good and their reputation is strong/intact/unsullied (note how FTSE 100 CEO departures reached peaks in 2000, 2007, 2013 and 2020 when either stock markets/share prices were high or the economy was good or both and then trouble started, in the form of the bursting of the tech bubble, the Great Financial Crisis, the EU-crisis inspired growth pause and then COVID,” Mould added.