Dow Chemical Company announced that CEO Andrew Liveris will retire from the company in summer 2018.
Liveris will serve as Executive Chairman of DowDuPont from closing of the DowDuPont merger transaction (anticipated to occur in August 2017) through April 1, 2018.
Liveris will become Chairman through July 1, 2018, at which time he will retire from the company and the Board of Directors.
“Given the complexity, unique structure and Andrew’s role as a key architect of this transaction, the Dow Board believes that the continuity of leadership will best serve our shareholders during this critical time of transition. This enables us to achieve the full value-creation promise behind the merger and subsequent intended spins,” said Jeff Fettig, Dow’s Lead Independent Director and current CEO of Whirlpool Corporation.
The announcement means that Liveris will not stick around for the completion of the spin-off of Dow-DuPont into three separate companies.
The spin-off is expected to take place 18 months after the Dow-DuPont merger is completed later this year.
That would appear to put DuPont CEO Edward Breen in charge of the spin-off. Earlier, a 16-member board was announced for Dow-DuPont.
However, his remaining time at the company will be longer than anticipated, a reflection of the longer-than-expected approval process for the merger.
