Business
Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier to retire at the end of June
Frazier, who joined Merck nearly 30 years ago. He was set to retire in 2019, but the company scrapped a policy requiring CEOs to retire at the age of 65.
Reuters | Merck & Co Inc said on Thursday Kenneth Frazier, one of only a handful of Black executives leading major U.S. companies, will step down as chief executive officer at the end of June and be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Robert Davis.
Frazier, 66, will remain with the drugmaker as executive chairman for a transition period to be determined by the board.
He was set to retire in 2019, but the company scrapped a policy requiring CEOs to retire at the age of 65.
Frazier joined Merck nearly 30 years ago and climbed the ranks, attaining the CEO role of the Fortune 500 company in 2011. Under his leadership, cancer drug Keytruda raked in blockbuster sales and is now one of the leading products in a new generation of oncology treatments.
During the same time, shares of the company more than doubled.