William Ruprecht, the CEO, is stepping down, and the board has begun a search for a new chief executive. Obviously, while I was busy here writing about the Georgia O’Keeffe record sale today at Sotheby’s, a lot more was happening on York Avenue in NYC.
The announcement arrived a short time ago:
Ruprecht, who has served as CEO since 2000, will continue as Chairman, President and CEO until his successor is in place to ensure a smooth transition.
The Board has formed a Search Committee to oversee the recruiting of a new CEO and has retained Spencer Stuart, a leading executive search firm, to assist in the process. The Committee is led by Domenico De Sole, Lead Independent Director.
Ruprecht joined the company in 1980 and became CEO in 2000. He’s been beleaguered by activist hedge fund manager Daniel S. Loeb for a long time now. Last May, Loeb joined the board, along with two colleagues, and he hasn’t let up the pressure to get better performance out of Sotheby’s. Ruprecht’s days were numbered.
Here’s a link to the Bloomberg story on the situation last May.
UPDATE, 11/21: The New York Times, which got this story out there first, has what I think is the most complete wrap-up of the situation, including yesterday’s 7% stock jump on the news in after-hours trading. At the moment, the stock maintaining most of the jump. But it will be interesting to watch who Loeb and his pals bring in. The NYT story reminds us that:
…Mr. Loeb took on Yahoo two years ago, unearthing evidence that the company’s chief executive at the time had overstated his academic credentials. He gained three board seats and then helped the company hire Marissa Mayer as its chief.
He later sold the majority of his stake back to Yahoo for $1.2 billion, earning a big profit.
Yahoo’s stock is certainly trading above where it was two years ago, but it’s still considered a company in search of a mission.