Sergio Marchionne (Photo by Agencia Brasil)
Sergio Marchionne, the Italian CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, is out as head of the company, following "serious complications" after shoulder surgery, multiple news outlets are reporting.
He's being replaced by Mike Manley, who oversaw the Jeep and Ram brands, effective immediately.
Fiat Chrysler isn't offering many details. This statement, reported by The Detroit News, sounds grim:
"Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V communicates with profound sorrow that during the course of this week unexpected complications arose while Mr. Marchionne was recovering from surgery and that these have worsened significantly in recent hours," the automaker said in a statement. "As a consequence, Mr. Marchionne will be unable to return to work."
As for his successor:
Manley was appointed head of the Ram brand in 2015. He has also been head of Jeep brand since 2009. According to the company website, Manley was previously chief operating officer of Asia, and ran international sales and global product planning for the company. He was born in Edenbridge, Great Britain.
...Marchionne’s health condition sped up the timeline for a succession decision. He had already announced he was planning to leave by early next year.
In the Free Press, Mark Phelan writes:
Marchionne, a dual Italian-Canadian citizen with an MBA from the University of Windsor and a career mostly in Europe, was picked to lead Fiat in 2004. The company was paired with Chrysler as the smallest of the Detroit 3 automakers emerged from its second bankruptcy and government bailout in 2009. Fiat completed its deal for Chrysler in 2014, and in 2017, Fiat Chrysler reported a pretax profit of $4.4 billion (3.5 billion euro).
