I realise his departure coincided with that of Mike Bair, but the lack of blog-focus on the announcement of BAE Systems CEO Mike Turner's planned departure is an amazing thing. This is the man who led the company to become the fifth biggest aerospace defence contractor in the world, took it out of Airbus, latterly spearheaded its really extraordinary push into the USA, and oversaw the Typhoon sale to Saudi Arabia.
How has the stock been doing? Like this:
I suppose it's no surprise that the story isn't making waves on the aviation blogs - BAE just doesn't seem to be considered an aviation company anymore.
Source: Digital Look
I think Turner's gently but firmly forced removal - which is what it was - is not unlike Bair's in that circumstances changed around both men which meant the reasons they got their jobs stopped being relevant. He was the tough guy who drove through the Airbus deal (after earlier helping force Airbus into restructuring), forced major change in UK Ministry of Defence procurement, and faced down the various interests challenging the Saudi deal. (I'm not expressing a view on the rights and wrongs of that BTW.)
But today BAE's board is looking for some calm after the numerous storms. And definitely a bit less media attention.
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