By Adria Calatayud 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (May 16, 2018).

Vodafone Group PLC Chief Executive Vittorio Colao is set to leave his position after reshaping the world's second-biggest mobile carrier by subscribers over the past 10 years.

The move comes less than a week after the U.K. telecommunications company announced a $23 billion deal to buy operations in Germany, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic from cable tycoon John Malone's Liberty Global. The deal would create a continental giant that sells the industry's holy grail "quad-play" package: cable, internet, wireless and fixed-line service on a single bill.

Mr. Colao, a 56-year-old Italian reserve military officer who took over as CEO of Vodafone in 2008, will be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Nick Read on Oct. 1, the company said Tuesday.

Shares in the London-listed company were 3.5% lower in Tuesday early-afternoon trading.

The Liberty agreement was the latest in a string of big deals on Mr. Colao's watch.

Vodafone, which operates in more than 20 countries and is second only to China Mobile Ltd. in terms of subscribers globally, spent about $20 billion in 2013 and 2014 to buy major cable operators in Europe, including Germany's Kabel Deutschland for EUR7.7 billion ($9.19 billion).

Meanwhile, in 2014 Vodafone sold its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless to Verizon Communications Inc. for $130 billion, one of the world's biggest-ever deals. Vodafone subsequently gave back $84 billion from the sale to shareholders -- the largest single return in modern corporate history.

Vodafone also spent billions of dollars to expand high-speed mobile networks across its empire, which is concentrated in Europe, Africa and India.

During Mr. Colao's tenure, Vodafone nearly doubled the company's mobile customer numbers to 536 million from 269 million, the company said.

"He has been an exemplary leader and strategic visionary who has overseen a dramatic transformation of Vodafone into a global pacesetter in converged communications," said Chairman Gerard Kleisterlee.

Accendo Research analyst Artjom Hatsaturjants said the share-price fall indicated that investors were "clearly taking a dimmer view about the company's prospects with the CEO of 10 years on his way out."

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at markets.com, said the departure of Mr. Colao would likely "throw some doubts" over the integration of the Liberty assets. "He's been a key figurehead for them," he said.

Tuesday's announcement came as Vodafone swung to a fiscal 2017 net profit of EUR2.44 billion, from a loss of EUR6.30 billion a year earlier, when it was hurt by a big write-down in India.

Revenue for the year decreased 2.2% to EUR46.57 billion, the company said. In the fourth quarter, organic service revenue -- a key measure for Vodafone -- rose 1.4%.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2018 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

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