Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter International has recently appointed Jose Almeida as the company's newest CEO. Almeida will assume the post effective Jan. 1. Aside from the latest change in the company's leadership, it is also reported that almost 1,400 jobs will be laid off.
Baxter's newest CEO, 53-year-old Jose Almeida was formerly the Chairman and CEO of healthcare products company, Covidien, from 2012 to 2015. He was also an operating executive at Carlyle Group, a global health care. According to Chicago Tribune, Almeida will succeed Robert L. Parkinson Jr., after he announced his retirement as a CEO earlier this year.
"Joe brings to Baxter tremendous experience in the global medical products marketplace and has a demonstrated record of improving profitability and creating value for all shareholders," Parkinson said in a statement.
As the company's CEO, Almeida will take over Baxter, which is in the process of rebuilding its pharmaceutical operations after its spinoff into a separate company, Baxalta Inc, this summer. However, he stressed that he had no plans to make drastic changes at the company, which has been in the business for 84 years.
Even though Almeida had no plans in making sweeping changes, he agrees with Baxter's strategy of pushing ahead with product development, entering new markets and finding ways to become more efficient to remain competitive.
"The company has a solid strategy," Almeida told Bloomberg Business. "Our objective is to make sure we take that strategy and make it even better going forward, so that in three to five years we are in the right place. Now is the moment of launching Baxter 2.0."
"We'll make the changes we think are necessary, but I'm not going to make wholesale changes to the company," he added.
Almeida's appointment announcement came a day after Baxter reported its third-quarter sales and profits have significantly declined, which was mostly attributed to the costs of the spinoff. The company also announced that it would cut about 1,400 jobs, or about 5 percent of its nonmanufacturing payroll, by the end of 2014. According to the company, the layoff came to save about $130 million.
"We are aligning our infrastructure with our new status as a stand-alone medical products company to better support our business portfolio and advance our priorities," Baxter spokeswoman Deborah Spak said Tuesday, as per Daily Herald.
Aside from the imminent layoff and leadership change, Baxter is also dealing with restless investors. Earlier this month, activist hedge fund Third Point LLC, the company's largest shareholder, won a seat on the board, participating in the search for the new CEO.
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