The management upheavals that have swept the largest telecommunications companies in Europe reached Vodafone yesterday as the world's largest mobile operator said Sir Christopher Gent would step down as chief executive in July.
He will be succeeded by Mr Arun Sarin, a Vodafone non-executive director who is chief executive of San Francisco-based Accel-KKR Telecom. Vodafone said Sir Christopher, 54, had already told Lord McLaurin, chairman, that he wanted to move on. Sir Christopher has been CEO since 1997.
"He has various things he wishes to achieve [and recognised] it was time to hand over the reins," Vodafone said.
Lord McLaurin said: "This is part of a carefully orchestrated succession plan which I have put in place at Vodafone."
Observers said Sir Christopher's departure marked the end of an era. His rise came during the telecoms boom, which created global operators across Europe and the US.
Until yesterday he was one of the few pioneers of the boom still at the helm of his company as the sector collapsed.
Analysts said the management change left questions about Vodafone's strategy. "The immediate questions are what are Vodafone's ambitions for the US," one analyst said, referring to Vodafone's non-controlling stake in US mobile operator Verizon Wireless.
The biggest task facing Mr Sarin will be justifying the logic behind Vodafone's global ambitions. "The next few years do mark a new phase. The deals have been done, the next phase is to consolidate what they got," said an analyst.
Mr Sarin is highly regarded in the telecoms industry. He joined Vodafone in 1999 after it bought AirTouch Communications.
He was chief executive of the Americas and Asia region of Vodafone until 2000, when Vodafone's US-based mobile businesses were merged with others to form Verizon Wireless.
Mr Sarin's experience in the US prompted some analysts to speculate whether Vodafone was moving to shift strategy in the only continent in which it has not achieved control of its operations. Vodafone said Mr Sarin's thinking was in line with Sir Christopher's. "We don't expect any major change in strategy," it said.
Mr Sarin will receive a base salary of £1.1 million sterling (€1.7 million) and incentives structured in the same way as those that apply to Sir Christopher, Vodafone said. The company said Sir Christopher would not receive any retirement package upon his departure but that he would stay on as a consultant for a few months after Mr Sarin is named CEO.
The sale of the Eircell business to Vodafone was completed while Sir Christopher was in charge. As a result almost 400,000 Eircom shareholders now hold Vodafone shares.
However, these shares have fallen spectacularly in value since the deal was done.
Vodafone shares, which peaked at 399p in March 2000, yesterday closed down 2.4 per cent at 110.25p sterling in London.
- (Financial Times Service)
