Unilever has ousted CEO Hein Schumacher after less than two years at the helm, replacing him with CFO Fernando Fernandez as the consumer goods giant seeks to speed up its turnaround plans.
Unilever, owner of brands like Dove soap and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, surprised investors Tuesday when it announced that Schumacher would step down on March 1 and leave the company on May 31.
Unilever’s stock tumbled by as much as 3.4% on the news. The company’s shares had been up more than 9% since Schumacher took over from Alan Jope in July 2023.
Schumacher’s departure comes at a time when Unilever has been undergoing a major restructuring which includes cutting thousands of jobs and spinning off its ice cream business, which includes the Ben & Jerry’s brand. The group is under mounting pressure from investors to address years of underperformance.
Unilever’s recent strategy reset had been welcomed by billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz, who sits on its board. Trian Fund, the investment firm founded by Peltz, declined to comment on the change in leadership at Unilever. Peltz has a net worth of $1.6 billion, according to the World’s Real-Time Billionaires ranking.
Schumacher had been steering the company away from price-led growth to instead focus on selling greater volumes of products.
Less than two weeks ago, Unilever had reported underlying sales growth of 4% in the fourth quarter, but also warned that it was anticipating a slower start to 2025 due to subdued market growth in the near term.
Unilever’s board reportedly ousted Schumacher just a day earlier after deciding that Fernandez was better suited to execute the company’s turnaround plan, according to a report in the Financial Times that cited an anonymous source.
“While the board is pleased with Unilever’s performance in 2024, there is much further to go to deliver best-in-class results,” said Unilever’s Chairman Ian Meakins.
Barclays described Fernandez as the “best candidate” for the next leg of Unilever’s story.
“Whilst unexpected, we agree with the board that Fernandez is best placed to accelerate the value unlock,” Barclays analysts said in a note on Tuesday.
“We view it as a hard-nosed decision by the board about who is the best person going forward into the next stage of its evolution,” they added.
Fernandez is a longtime company veteran, having joined Unilever in 1988. Before he became the company’s CFO, he ran its beauty and wellbeing unit, one of Unilever’s fastest-growing businesses. He had also overseen several of the company’s best-performing markets, including Brazil and the Philippines.
Unilever’s chairman praised Fernandez when announcing the leadership reshuffle, describing how the board had been impressed by his “decisive and results-oriented approach and his ability to drive change at speed.”
Meakins also laid out the board’s expectations of Fernandez, when he said, “The growth action plan has put Unilever on a path to higher performance and the board is committed to accelerating its execution.”
Fernandez will be taking over with Unilever in the midst of spinning off its ice-cream business. The unit generated $8.6 billion in revenue last year. Unilever said earlier this month that it plans to list the unit primarily in Amsterdam, with London and New York getting secondary listings.