LONDON -- BP PLC CEO John Browne confirmed yesterday that he will retire come 2008, despite suggestion that he might try to stay on beyond the company-mandated retirement age of 60.
I will be retiring in 2008, he said during the company's quarterly earnings call yesterday. Even if I were asked to stay, I would decline.
Browne will turn 60 in February 2008, and will have served as BP's chief executive for more than 13 years by the time he leaves. He stressed he never considered staying on beyond 2008, a decision he made abundantly [image-nocss] clear during meetings with the board and chairman Peter Sutherland.
Browne, one of the highly respected executives in the UK, pointed out that his decision to go is not based on age, but the fact that being at the helm of BP for over a decade is just quite a long time.
The selection process for a successor began last year, and Browne said he submitted a list of more than three people as potential candidates to the search committee. The board is considering both internal and external candidates, he added.
Stock analysts, however, believe the board will most likely to choose someone from within the organization. Generally, they do try to pick someone from within the ranks, Lysle Brinker, analyst for John S. Herold Inc., Norwalk, Conn., told CSP Daily News. But it could also be somebody that they'll bring in over the next two to three years. But I'm 99% sure they won't bring anybody in from the outside without having him be involved for awhile because that's just not BP's style.
Also, Brinker said he anticipates Browne may have one final grand move to make before leaving his position. There's speculation that he might try to do one swan-song deal, one more big thing, Brinker said. Whether that's an acquisition, a divestiture or whatever, he's probably not going to go quietly. So he's got three years to do something potentially significant.
Meanwhile, Browne said he doesn't believe in retirement and he plans to keep on working after BP. I'm going to change jobs, he said. Do I exactly know what I want to do [after BP]? No, I don't know.
Browne joined BP in 1966 as a university apprentice, and from there worked his way up, holding various posts in the exploration and production business in the United States and Canada. He became CEO for exploration in 1989. He was named group CEO in June 1995.
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