On February 3rd, EGG-NEWS announced a restructuring of the management of Danone with Emmanuel Faber relinquishing the position of CEO to become the Non-Executive Chairman.  Within the past week, it was announced that he exited the company. The Board regarded Faber as "more interested in saving the planet then saving his firm" as noted in The Economist, February 20th edition.

The Board has appointed Veronique Penchienati-Bosetta, currently CEO of Danone International and Shane Grant, CEO of Danone North America to be interim joint CEOs until a permanent CEO is appointed.  Gilles Schnepp will serve as Chairman of the Board.

Faber was originally selected as CEO by Franck Riboud, the son of the co-founder of the company.  The Board became disillusioned with Faber as share price fell and Nestle and Unilever made gains in market penetration and growth.  Problems at Danone were compounded in 2017 when the company overpaid for WhiteWave, a U.S. producer of natural foods for health conscious consumers.  Despite the $12.5 billion price tag, the acquisition did not fulfill expectations. A further problem affecting Danone was that since the advent of COVID the company has suffered a loss in sales of Evian and similar brands of bottled water that were impacted by closure of restaurants and bars.  The Danone dairy business has suffered from falling birth rates and a disinclination to drink dairy milk.

Danone is regarded as an enterprise a mission, a corporation with a declared social purpose.  The Government of France is not expected to intervene to defend against a potential foreign buyer since the reorganization and change in management appears to be confined to Le Republique.