Ericsson picks board
veteran Ekholm to engineer turnaround
Send a link to a friend
[October 26, 2016]
By Olof Swahnberg and Helena Soderpalm
STOCKHOLM
(Reuters) - Ericsson picked Borje Ekholm, a Swedish business insider and
veteran board member, to steer the telecoms gear maker through its worst
crisis in a decade.
Ekholm's surprise appointment on Wednesday ends months of speculation
over who Ericsson would select to tackle an industry downturn and fierce
competition from Nokia and Huawei [HWT.UL].
But it immediately raised questions over Ericsson's future and whether
Ekholm, who sat on the Stockholm-based firm's board for a decade, is the
right person to guide it into software and services as it waits for 5G
network demand to kick in.
For some, Ekholm, who Chairman of the Board Leif Johansson said was the
top choice, represents the old Ericsson which failed to respond fast
enough to worsening market conditions.
"What speaks against him is that he has been on the board for 10 years,"
Daniel Djurberg, analyst at Handelsbanken, said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/26/images/ads/current/graue_16_encore_101016.png)
"On the positive side, there is a new CEO who can drive some kind of
strategy. But how new and fresh that new strategy is going to be remains
to be seen."
Ekholm's appointment initially breathed some life into Ericsson's
battered shares which later traded down one percent at 1000 GMT and
remain down 46 percent year-to-date.
Others said Ekholm was right for the job, with the crisis at Ericsson
deepening in recent weeks following a dramatic profit warning which led
analysts to slash their forecasts.
"Ekholm is...a fixer who does what is needed," said a fund manager who
owns Ericsson shares and declined to be named. "It is now about stopping
the bleeding and making it a healthy company, and from that perspective
Ekholm is a good choice."
Ekholm served for a decade as CEO of the Wallenberg family-backed
investment firm Investor AB where shares tripled during his tenure and
is CEO of Investor AB subsidiary Patricia Industries.
CRITIC PLACATED
Ekholm's appointment comes three months after Hans Vestberg was ousted
as CEO following months of criticism over his leadership, pay and the
company's poor performance.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/26/images/ads/current/charrons_bch041713.png)
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/102616pics/busine43.jpg)
Flags with Ericsson logo are pictured outside company's head office
in Stockholm, Sweden, October 4 , 2016. TT NEWS AGENCY/Maja Suslin
via REUTERS
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/26/images/ads/current/castlemanor_lda_HALLOWEEN_2016.png)
The 53-year-old who has both Swedish and U.S. citizenship will take over
at Ericsson on Jan. 16 and will be based in the United States where he
currently lives.
Ericsson's second-biggest investor Industrivarden, which has been vocal in its
criticism this year, said it was pleased to have a new CEO with an "extensive
and long experience of technology companies in a global arena".
Ekholm, who holds engineering and business degrees, said he was excited about
the opportunity.
"As the networks and applications become even more important in a 5G connected
world, our customers, and the industry, look for continuous innovation," he said
in a statement.
However, with 5G technology still years away, Ericsson is expected to face
several years of tough cost cuts which will likely see thousands more jobs go.
Some
said it looked like Ekholm was being brought in to clean up and prepare for
strategic deals such as asset sales.
"This feels like an interim solution," said fund manager Inge Heydorn at Sentat
Asset Management who invests in the telecoms sector but owns no Ericsson shares.
"Are they going to split the company, or prepare it for sale?"
Ekholm is known for his sense of humor and in the 2008 year-end report for
Investor, at the height of the financial crisis, highlighted the need to take
risk by quoting Canadian ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
(Additional reporting by Johan Sennero and Johannes Hellstrom; Writing by Mia
Shanley; Editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/26/images/ads/current/lpd_basketball_lda_100416.png) |