Rio Tinto (RIO) Stock Sliding, CEO: Holding on to Assets
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Rio Tinto (RIO) - Get Reportstock is down 1.87% to $30.98 in pre-market trade after new CEO Jean-Sebastian Jacques dismissed rumors this Sunday that the company would spin off and sell less profitable assets in coal and uranium to focus on core projects.
Rio Tinto is a London-based mining company.
Rival BHP Billiton (BHP) last year sold off operations in aluminum, nickel and other assets under the name South32 (SHTLF) in order to focus on its core business, and in 2016 the newly formed stock has outperformed both BHP and Rio.
Rio reorganized last month with a new Energy and Minerals division that includes $9 billion of the company's assets including its Canadian iron ore venture. Analysts suspected this move was in preparation to complete a spin-off much like BHP and South32.
The company's new CEO Jean-Sebastian Jacques, at the helm since this past Saturday, quashed these rumors in an interview with Reuters.
He said that the Energy and Minerals business would not be the company's focus for investment, but that it did serve as an "incubator" for exploring different assets outside of Rio's core business.
He suggested the company could make a move into lithium.