Disqus
Vodafone today announced that its current CEO, Arun Sarin will be retiring at the end of the Company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on 29th July 2008. Deputy Chief Executive, Vittorio Colao, will take the reigns from then on.
Arun Sarin became Chief Executive in July 2003 and over the last five years has led the company through a period of significant change, both strategic and organisational. Under his leadership Vodafone has developed and implemented a new strategy to become a total communications company, which is already delivering results. As part of its strategy Vodafone has also expanded into emerging markets including Romania, Czech Republic, Turkey, and most recently, India where Arun Sarin led the acquisition of Hutchison Essar, which is the largest foreign investment made in the country.
In portfolio management, during Sarin’s tenure, the Big Red giant also disposed of its businesses in Japan and Sweden, together with interests in Switzerland and Belgium. Finally, Vodafone grew from 120 million to more than 260 million users globally, during the period.
Aside from Arun Sarin, two Non Executive Directors Michael Boskin and Jürgen Schrempp will be also leaving the company following the AGM.
In the other news, Vodafone announced results for the year ended March 31st, 2008. Group revenues total 35.5 billion GBP, an increase of 14.1% (4.2$ organic growth); Group EBITDA is up 10.2% reaching 13.2 billion GBP; and total dividends per share are up by 11.1% to 7.51 pence!
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
