Unilever, the British-Dutch transnational consumer goods company’s chief executive Paul Polman will step down in January, after serving the firm for 10 years.
Polman is stepping down after he lost a bruising fight with shareholders over his plan to move the company’s headquarters out of the United Kingdom.
The company which owns iconic brands like Marmite, Lipton, Ben & Jerry’s and Dove soap will be headed by Alan Jope from January, the current chief of its huge beauty and personal care department.
The consumer goods company co-headquartered in London, United Kingdom and Netherlands argued that switching to a single head office in Netherlands would simplify its structure and give it more flexibility to buy or sell brands.
Many investors were angry that this would have ended Unilever’s dual listing on the London and Amsterdam stock exchanges, since they would have had to sell their shares in Britain.
Unilever faced mounting opposition from key shareholders, including Aviva Investors, Royal London, Columbia Threadneedle, Legal & General Investment Management, Lindsell Train, M&G Investments and Brewin Dolphin.
During Polman’s tenure, the company has delivered consistent top and bottom line growth ahead of its markets. Its focus on successfully pioneering a new model of sustainable growth has served the needs of its many stakeholders and created excellent returns for its shareholders, delivering a Total Shareholder Return of 290% over that period.
Alan Jope, 54, has led Beauty & Personal Care, Unilever’s largest Division, since 2014 and has been on the company’s Leadership Executive since 2011. He has an excellent track record of leading Unilever’s business in both developed and emerging markets, having run the company’s North Asia business for four years.
Alan Jope said “It will be a huge privilege to lead Unilever – a truly global company full of talented people, and brilliant brands. Over the 30 years I have worked at Unilever, I have seen the many ways in which our brands improve people’s lives, positively impacting more than 2 billion citizens every day.
“Our global footprint includes strong positions in many important markets for the future and our focus will remain on serving our consumers, and our other multiple stakeholders, to deliver long-term growth and value creation.
“I’d also like to extend my gratitude to Paul for his remarkable leadership of Unilever and look forward to working closely with him during the transition.”
Polman said “I congratulate Alan on his appointment and look forward to working with him on the transition. Having worked closely with Alan for many years, I am highly confident that under his leadership, Unilever will prosper long into the future. His appointment demonstrates the strength of Unilever’s succession planning and talent pipeline.
Polman will retire as CEO and as a Board member on 31 December 2018. He will support the transition process in the first half of 2019 and will leave the company in early July.
A successor to the role of President, Beauty & Personal Care will be announced shortly by the company.
HrNxt.com Newsdesk has researchers and writers with an excellent domain knowledge about the talent ecosystem, and the business environment. The team keeps a tab on the latest happenings in the ecosystem to bring most relevant news and insights for our readers. You can connect with our newsdesk at newsdesk@hrnxt.com.