Stellantis closes on Monday with a 6.3% drop in the stock market after the resignation of Carlos Tavares as CEO

The titles of the manufacturer of Fiat, Peugeot, Jeep, Dodge and Opel fell by 10% during the day this Monday

Dec. 2 () – The multinational automobile group Stellantis has closed the session on the Milan Stock Exchange with a fall of 6.3%, leaving its shares at 11,746 euros per share, after the news last Sunday of the resignation of the company’s CEO, Carlos Tavares.

The manufacturer’s shares of brands such as Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Dodge and Opel were trading at 11,268 euros at midday, hitting the intraday minimum with a drop of 10% at that time. So far this year it has fallen 44.46%, while its market capitalization stands at 35.5 billion euros.

Meanwhile, on the New York Stock Exchange where the automobile group is also listed, shares registered a drop of 6.36% at closing time in Europe, with its titles valued at $12.37, although since the New York opening has touched a low of $12.12.

Stellantis announced yesterday in a statement that the company’s board of directors, under the chairmanship of John Elkann, had accepted the resignation of Carlos Tavares as CEO with immediate effect.

The group that emerged in 2021 after the merger of Groupe PSA and Fiat Chrysler detailed that the process to appoint the new permanent CEO was underway, and was being managed by a Special Committee of the Board of Directors, and will conclude in the first half of 2025. Until then, Stellantis announced that a new Interim Executive Committee was being established, chaired by John Elkann.

Prior to the announcement of the departure of the Portuguese manager, Stellantis had announced last October that it was beginning the search for a successor for the position of CEO held until yesterday by Carlos Tavares, whose contract expired in 2026.

The pressure on Tavares had been increasing due to the poor performance of Stellantis in its main markets such as the United States, one of its largest sources of profits along with Europe.

Tavares, who this year had managed to incorporate a new joint venture into the group with the Chinese manufacturer LeapMotor and with which he markets two of the Chinese group’s models in Europe, was increasingly under pressure due to the poor performance of the multinational, which Along with other European manufacturers, it was facing low demand for electric vehicles on the continent, as well as pressure to meet next year’s CO2 emissions targets and the demands of some governments such as Giorgia Meloni’s Italian government.

Stellantis has also said that it confirms its financial forecasts presented on October 31 regarding its results for the full year 2024, which it had revised downwards expecting an adjusted operating income (AOI) margin of between 5, 5% and 7%, below the previous “double-digit” percentage.

“The success of Stellantis since its creation has been based on a perfect alignment between the reference shareholders, the Board of Directors and the CEO. However, in recent weeks different points of view have emerged that have led to the decision of today’s Board of Directors and CEO,” Stellantis senior independent director Henri de Castries commented in the statement.

John Elkann, for his part, thanked Carlos Tavares for his “years of dedication and the role he has played in the creation of Stellantis, as well as in the previous transformations of PSA and Opel, which have put us on the path to becoming a world leader in our industry.