Swedish telecoms giant, Ericsson today announced that Hans Vestberg steps down as President and CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Ericsson with immediate effect. After the dismal 2nd quarter results, Vestberg, 51, who has donned the role for the last 6 1/2 years come under pressure as the company's shares went down and are on a downward trend. During the quarter, the company's sales dropped by 7 percent, the seventh in a row. He has earlier denied rumours that he will be stepping down to assume same role at Microsoft.
Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg tells company board that he has no plans step down to assume same role at Microsoft. http://t.co/jCmWOQPQ23
— Brad Casemore (@BradCasemore) January 29, 2014
Jan Frykhammar, Executive Vice President and CFO, will assume the CEO position until a new CEO is in office. The company said that it has initiated a recruitment search process that will comprise both internal and external candidates.
Jan Frykhammar, who holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and Economics from the University of Uppsala, Sweden joined Ericsson in 1991, and has held various positions in finance and business control. In 2009, Frykhammar became Executive Vice President, CFO and Head of Group Function Finance. Prior to that, he was Head of Business Unit Global Services.
Chairman of the Board Leif Johansson
Hans has been instrumental in building strong relationships with key customers around the world and his leadership and energy have been an inspiration to employees and leaders across Ericsson.
Hans Vestberg
I have had 28 fantastic years at Ericsson, the last seven as CEO. As the industry enters a next phase, driven by 5G, IoT and Cloud, it is time for a new CEO to step in and continue the work to ensure Ericsson's industry leadership.