It's rare for a CEO to leave a company to spend more time with his family and have the reason come across as genuine. However, with Steven Reinemund set to step down as CEO of PepsiCo
Since 2001, when Reinemund officially took the reins as chairman and CEO, the company's returns have been simply fantastic. I could go on about the different metrics, but the company provided them in its press release announcing the CEO change. Perhaps more impressive is that Reinemund accomplished this growth during a tough market, and to a certain extent the stock price has lagged the performance of the business, though it has done a lot catching up in the last year. CEOs that put up that kind of performance are rarely asked to leave.
Reinemund's replacement will be current CFO and President Indra Nooyi. From an outsider's perspective, Nooyi has done a great job during her tenure at the company, and the reaction of the company's shares today (up 1%) confirms that Wall Street sees little reason to worry about the appointment. This is logical, because like General Electric
There is, however, an interesting comparison to Inside Value selection Coca-Cola
The other interesting fact is that Nooyi will join Meg Whitman of eBay
eBay is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor selection, and Kraft is a Motley Fool Income Investor selection. Try out these or any of our Foolish newsletters, free for 30 days .
At the time of publication, Nathan Parmelee had no interest in any of the companies mentioned. The Motley Fool has an ironclad disclosure policy.