Nelson Peltz, the billionaire activist investor known for pushing companies to make deals, is leaving the board of Mondelēz International as he prepares to become a director at Procter & Gamble.
Peltz, 75, is being replaced by fellow Trian Fund Management partner Peter May, also 75. Debra Crew, 47, a US military intelligence officer and former chief executive officer of the tobacco company Reynolds American, was also added to the board, Mondelēz said in a statement on Tuesday.
Peltz joined the board in 2014, less than two years after it was created in a split with Kraft Foods.
He had pushed Chief Executive Officer Irene Rosenfeld, who orchestrated the creation of the company, to merge it with PepsiCo.
He ultimately abandoned the campaign and joined the board, helping oversee a cost-cutting push at the maker of Oreos and Ritz crackers.
'Sounds Like A Disease'
Known for speaking his mind, Peltz once said that the name Mondelēz “sounds like a disease.”
The company’s moniker was unveiled in 2012 as a combination of the Latin words “world” and “delicious,” but it left many observers cold.
Rosenfeld, 64, retired as CEO of Mondelez last year and will soon depart the board.
Peltz is preparing to join to the board at P&G next month after a contentious and costly battle.
Trian disclosed its $3.5 billion P&G stake last year and launched the proxy fight in July, saying P&G had an unwieldy number of brands and that its “suffocating bureaucracy” was hurting its ability to compete.
P&G will be the first board Peltz has joined in two years.
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