Ericsson chairman Treschow to step down by 2012: company

December 06, 2010 | 21:53

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Swedish telecoms group Ericsson said on Monday that its chairman for the past eight years, Michael Treschow, will resign within the next two years.

"Michael Treschow has informed the nomination committee that he will resign as chairman of the board in 2011 and 2012," Ericsson said in a statement.

Treschow took over as the company chairman in March, 2002, and has since then led the work to appoint two chief executives, Henric Svanberg in 2003 and Hans Vesterberg last year, when Svanberg moved on to become chairman of BP.

"It has been exciting to follow Ericsson and the industry during my years in the company," Treschow said in the statement, pointing out that when he arrived on the scene, "one billion people had access to a mobile phone. Today, more than five billion of the world's population has access to mobile communications."

Treschow, 67, is also chairman of the board of Unilever NV and Unilever PLC, and director of the board of ABB and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation.

He has also headed up Electrolux and Atlas Copco.

Ericsson's nomination committee, which is appointed by its largest owners, will propose a new chairman at the company's annual general meeting either next year or in 2012, the statement said.

Following Monday's news, Ericsson saw its share price drop 1.14 per cent in early afternoon trading on the Stockholm stock exchange, which was down 0.42 per cent.

AFP

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