Some €3 billion was wiped off the value of Stellantis today as the markets reacted to CEO Carlos Tavares’s shock resignation last night.
The multinational car-making giant's share price, listed in Milan, fell to as low as €11.32 on Monday, down 10% on Friday’s market close.
This steep drop put the value of the company at €33bn. The price has risen slightly throughout the day; at the time of writing, the drop stood at 6.5%.
It recorded a similar drop on the US's Nasdaq index, which has since grown to 7.5%.
Last night, Tavares stepped down from his role with immediate effect, more than a year before his scheduled retirement.
The 66-year-old had led the 14-brand automotive giant since it was formed in 2021, having headed the PSA Group for seven years before that.
Stellantis recently announced that Tavares would retire in early 2026, as part of a wide-reaching management shake-up aimed at shoring up the company's unstable finances, and the search for his successor had begun.
But Tavares left the firm well in advance of that date, tendering his resignation to chairman John Elkann "with immediate effect".
Stellantis said it would elect a successor within the first half of 2025.
What legacy will Carlos Tavares leave?
In an official statement, senior independent director Henri de Castries said: "Stellantis’s success since its creation has been rooted in a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the board and the CEO. However, in recent weeks, different views have emerged which have resulted in the board and the CEO coming to today’s [Sunday's] decision.”
No further details have been given, but Tavares's exit comes shortly after Stellantis slashed its profit forecast for the year and warned of reduced share dividend payouts, with sales sliding in the crucial North American market and performance elsewhere being impacted by weakening EV demand and Chinese competition.
Having forecasted a double-digit profit margin for 2024, Stellantis in September revised its forecast to between 5.5% and 7.0% for the year.
In the wake of the announcement, Tavares embarked on a near-total overhaul of Stellantis's leadership team, replacing the CEOs of Maserati and Alfa Romeo, replacing the North American chief operating officer, appointing a new CFO and installing a new boss for Stellantis in China.
“During this Darwinian period for the automotive industry, our duty and ethical responsibility is to adapt and prepare ourselves for the future, better and faster than our competitors to deliver clean, safe and affordable mobility," Tavares said at the time.
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