Coca-Cola's Daft Retiring
Coca-Cola's
(KO) - Get Report
board will look both inside and outside the company for a replacement for CEO Doug Daft, who will retire at the end of the year.
Daft unexpectedly announced his retirement Thursday, capping a tumultuous five years at the top of the world's No. 1 soft drink company. Daft's appointment presaged a near-halving in the company's stock from 1999 to its recent low beneath $40 in January 2003, a slide that recently reversed as a restructuring plan took hold.
Coca-Cola closed Thursday at $51, down 24 cents, or 0.5%.
"Over the coming months, I will work with the board and the Management Development Committee, which has been in place for the last two years, to support this transition process," Daft said in a statement. "The board will engage a search firm to assist in this effort and will carefully consider external candidates along with the internal candidate we have in Steve Heyer."
Heyer, a former advertising executive who developed Coke's "The Real Thing" marketing campaign in the early 1990s, was recruited from Turner Broadcasting two years ago. As president and chief operating officer, Heyer was viewed as Daft's obvious successor.
That Coke will consider outside candidates could reflect its recent turmoil, which has included the resignation of several top executives, some layoffs and a federal investigation into its accounting over the last year.