Unilever said CEO Alan Jope would retire at the end of 2023, announcing the move less than a year after a bungled attempt to buy GSK’s consumer healthcare business, and two months after activist investor Nelson Peltz joined the board.
The British consumer products maker said its board would start a formal search for a successor to Jope, a Unilever veteran who took up his role at the start of 2019, considering both internal and external candidates.
The company’s search begins at a time of soaring food and energy prices which are hitting household budgets and hurting consumer confidence. The company will be looking for a new CEO at the same time as rival Reckitt, the maker of Dettol products and Finish dish soap….