Ellen Kullman abrupt resignation as chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont Co., stepping down as an activist shareholder appeared ready to reignite a battle to break up the 213-year-old company.
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Board member Edward Breen will become interim chair and CEO until a replacement is found. While that impact on the state and the state’s workforce has diminished in recent decades, DuPont remains a major player in the state’s economy and business community.
DuPont said CEO Kullman will resign on October sixteenth following 27 years with the organization. Despite the weaker outlook included with the Kullman news, DuPont’s shares gained 6 percent in after-hours trading.
“Ellen is an outstanding leader and the entire Board appreciates her long record of accomplishment at DuPont”, said Breen.
Trian Fund Management under Peltz took on Kullman in a bid to win four board seats with Dupont, stressing that change was needed because the company had been unable to meet its financial targets.
On Monday DuPont revised its operating earnings outlook, according to The Wall Street Journal.
DuPont also lowered its expectations for operating earnings for the year to $2.75 a share compared to prior guidance of $3.10. Analysts had expected $3.19. The fund wanted to split up DuPont into smaller companies that would get more management focus and accountability, something Trian repeated today in announcing it had added to its stake. In Brazil, where the planting season is in progress, tighter farmer profit margins and credit are causing growers to be more cautious in their spending.
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The lower guidance is mainly due to the strengthening of the US dollar versus currencies in emerging markets, particularly the Brazilian real, and a further weakening of agricultural markets, primarily in Brazil, DuPont said. That has set up the company for its “next phase of growth”, she said on a conference call Monday.
