First the director was fired, and now it’s the turn of a series of board members.
Almost the entire board of Novo Nordisk is stepping down due to disagreements over how quickly and extensively changes should be implemented in Denmark’s most valuable company.
»We agree on the overall strategy, mission, and ambition for the company, but what we couldn’t agree on was the extent to which new eyes and new perspectives should be brought into play on the board«, said the chairman of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Lars Rebien Sørensen, at an online press conference Tuesday afternoon.
He believes new forces should drive the company forward and simultaneously called it »a huge failure« that Novo Nordisk had to lay off 9,000 employees in September.
»Many in the company will need to look at themselves – both in the company, the management, and the board – and ask: Could we have done something differently to avoid this«, he said.
The ‘new eyes’ are partly his own.
71-year-old Lars Rebien Sørensen is being appointed as the new chairman of the board of Novo Nordisk, returning to the company he led between 2000 and 2016. However, he will only hold the position temporarily.
»The plan is for me to be here as short a time as possible. A maximum of two to three years«.
Asked why he sees himself as the right person to take over the chairman position, he mentioned that his age »could be an issue«, but he believes he has become »a better person« than when he was CEO of the pharmaceutical company.
»Very, very significant« power
This also means saying goodbye to chairman Helge Lund and vice-chairman Henrik Poulsen. The changes will be implemented at an extraordinary general meeting on November 14.
Søren Løntoft Hansen, a senior analyst at Sydbank who closely follows Novo Nordisk, interprets the seemingly dramatic development at Novo Nordisk as a continuation of the trends set with the firing of Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard in May.
»It has been clear for some time now that the Novo Nordisk Foundation wants a different approach to things at Novo Nordisk. This was evident with Fruergaard’s firing and the fact that Lars Rebien entered the Novo Nordisk board in an observer role at that time«, says the analyst.
Asked about Lars Rebien’s power at Novo Nordisk, Søren Løntoft Hansen simply states that it is »of course very, very significant«.
A Turkish bazaar
Novo Nordisk has experienced a turbulent period, especially in the stock market, since the summer of 2024. The stock’s value has dropped 65 percent since the end of June last year. This is mainly due to the company’s challenges in the U.S. market, where sales of the drugs Wegovy and Ozempic are pressured by generic versions and a more commercial market than what Novo Nordisk has been accustomed to.
At Tuesday’s investor and press conference, Lars Rebien was also asked whether Novo Nordisk’s leadership has sufficient expertise to handle the pressure from the White House and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rebien responded that he believes the U.S. healthcare system today is managed under a more »transaction-based model«, which he thinks suits Novo Nordisk’s new CEO Mike Doustdar, who has held the position since August.
»Without offending anyone, he talks about being able to do business in a Turkish bazaar, and he has actually done so over the years«, says Lars Rebien Sørensen.
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has proposed a new board for Novo Nordisk. Several of the proposed members have ties to the Novo Nordisk Foundation, where Lars Rebien is currently chairman.
Cees de Jong, chairman of Novonesis, controlled by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, will become the new vice-chairman, while the only non-employee-appointed board member continuing on the board, Kasim Kutay, is a top executive at Novo Holdings.
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