A shift in the C-suite can mean a shift in the entire company. Automotive giant Toyota (NYSE:TM) is bringing in a new CEO, the first time in 14 years that the firm made such a move. Investors aren’t exactly pleased, however, as shares of Toyota were down slightly in Thursday afternoon’s trading.
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Akio Toyoda will step down on April 1. In his place, Koji Sato will step in. Sato most recently served as the head of the Lexus branch, which is part of Toyota’s overall operations. He was also the company’s chief branding officer and head of the GAZOO racing company. Toyoda stepped down, reports note, as a way to “further Toyota’s transformation.” That required him to step down, become chairman of the board instead, and set up a new CEO in his place.
Toyoda is actually the grandson of the original founder, and that sudden sea change has some outside analysts concerned. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), offering a note on the topic, called Toyoda “…a powerful spokesman to the outside world” and also pointed out the familial connections between Toyoda and Toyota.
Up until now, the mood among hedge funds has been positive, as they added 149,900 shares of Toyota in the last quarter and have been adding to their holdings every quarter since June 2021. It’ll be interesting to see if the optimism continues following the CEO change.
