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Kindler steps down as Pfizer chairman
By Linda A. Johnson |
December 7, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
JEFFREY B. Kindler, Pfizer's CEO and chairman, abruptly stepped down on Sunday after four and a half years leading the world's biggest drugmaker, saying he needed to "recharge my batteries."
Analysts, however, said he more likely was forced out by a board and institutional investors unhappy with Pfizer's languishing stock price, failures of numerous important experimental drugs and a strategy emphasizing repeated acquisitions to bolster revenue and slash costs as a way to improve the bottom line.
Ian Read, who has run Pfizer's worldwide pharmaceutical operations since 2006 and has spent his entire career at the company, took over as chief executive and president.
Kindler, who reorganized most of the company's operations and made an imprint on the industry, said he plans to spend more time with his family while preparing for new challenges.
Kindler, a Harvard Law School graduate and former McDonald's executive joined Pfizer in 2002. He revamped its sprawling pharmaceutical sales operation into five divisions that gave their leaders more control and responsibility.
That shift significantly boosted revenue in emerging markets and stabilized sales of older medicines hit by generic competition in the wealthiest countries by promoting them heavily elsewhere.
Kindler also pulled off a huge acquisition that ensures Pfizer remains at the top of the pharmaceutical industry for years to come, buying Wyeth for US$68 billion in 2009. The deal allowed Pfizer to metamorphosize overnight from a maker of blockbuster pills such as cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug at nearly US$13 billion a year, to a highly diversified company.
It now has a lucrative biologic drug business, plus veterinary medicines and consumer health products including Centrum vitamins and Advil and Anacin pain relievers.
Analysts, however, said he more likely was forced out by a board and institutional investors unhappy with Pfizer's languishing stock price, failures of numerous important experimental drugs and a strategy emphasizing repeated acquisitions to bolster revenue and slash costs as a way to improve the bottom line.
Ian Read, who has run Pfizer's worldwide pharmaceutical operations since 2006 and has spent his entire career at the company, took over as chief executive and president.
Kindler, who reorganized most of the company's operations and made an imprint on the industry, said he plans to spend more time with his family while preparing for new challenges.
Kindler, a Harvard Law School graduate and former McDonald's executive joined Pfizer in 2002. He revamped its sprawling pharmaceutical sales operation into five divisions that gave their leaders more control and responsibility.
That shift significantly boosted revenue in emerging markets and stabilized sales of older medicines hit by generic competition in the wealthiest countries by promoting them heavily elsewhere.
Kindler also pulled off a huge acquisition that ensures Pfizer remains at the top of the pharmaceutical industry for years to come, buying Wyeth for US$68 billion in 2009. The deal allowed Pfizer to metamorphosize overnight from a maker of blockbuster pills such as cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug at nearly US$13 billion a year, to a highly diversified company.
It now has a lucrative biologic drug business, plus veterinary medicines and consumer health products including Centrum vitamins and Advil and Anacin pain relievers.
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