AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Dutch health technology company Philips on Tuesday unexpectedly announced that CEO Frans van Houten will be replaced on October 15 with Roy Jakobs, head of the company’s Connected Care businesses.
Philips over the past year has been grappling with the fallout of a massive recall of ventilators and seen its market value tumble by around 15 billion euros since June 2021.
“The supervisory board and current Philips CEO Frans van Houten have agreed that with the end of his third term in sight, the time is right for the change in leadership,” Philips said in a statement.
An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be held on Sept 30 to appoint Jakobs, who joined the company in 2010, as CEO.
During his run of almost 12 years at the helm of Philips, Van Houten led the transformation of the once-sprawling conglomerate into a focused healthcare specialist, spinning off its lighting and consumer electronics divisions.
Philips now focuses on medical imaging, monitoring and diagnostic equipment and competes against General Electric and Siemens Healthineers.
It shocked investors last year by recalling 5.5 million ventilators used for the treatment of sleep apnea.
Foam used for sound dampening can degrade and emit small particles that irritate airways, while gases released by the degrading foam may also be toxic or carry cancer risks, the company announced at the time.
The recall and repairs, which Philips recently said were around half complete, is expected to cost around 900 million euros.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; editing by Jason Neely)
