AstraZeneca boss Sir Pascal Soriot looks to step down

Bowing out: Sir Pascal Soriot

AstraZeneca boss Sir Pascal Soriot has privately told friends and trusted advisers that he is looking to leave the biggest company in the FTSE 100, The Mail on Sunday understands.

He has had one of the most successful careers in British corporate history, spearheading the development of one of the first Covid-19 vaccines and fending off a blockbuster takeover bid from US rival Pfizer.

Soriot, 64, has discussed leaving with several people, according to a source, but he has not spoken with the pharmaceuticals company’s board or chairman.

He is said to be considering leaving as soon as next year, though no decisions have been made and there is no firm timeline.

In February Soriot was asked about whether he planned to depart AstraZeneca, to which he said: ‘I still feel fit so I am not about to leave any time soon.’

And in April, when the company’s new chairman Michel Demaré was appointed, Soriot said he looked forward to working with him ‘in the years to come’. He did not say in what capacity they would work together.

Soriot has been in the role for 11 years. He took over as head of the pharmaceuticals giant in 2012 and has been widely credited for spearheading a turnaround that has transformed AstraZeneca’s image from laggard to pioneer, with a formidable portfolio of blockbuster cancer treatments.

Under his leadership, its market value has more than tripled to £168 billion, ahead of Shell and HSBC. And the French-Australian was last year the best-paid chief executive in the FTSE 100, netting £15.3 million, including a £10.5 million bonus, which is paid to Soriot in shares if he reaches a number of performance targets.

He is one of the few bosses on the Footsie to have earned more than £100 million, pocketing £120 million so far.

AstraZeneca’s present success is a far cry from Soriot’s early days at the firm. It got off to a rocky start in 2013 when his decision to move its headquarters from Alderley Park in Cheshire to Cambridge, was branded by unions as a ‘massive blow’ to north-west England. 

The following year AstraZeneca was subject to an opportunistic takeover bid by its US rival Pfizer, which offered to buy it for £70 billion as part of a plan to move its headquarters to the UK for tax purposes. Pfizer eventually walked away after a public row, with AstraZeneca’s management arguing the bid undervalued the business.

Soriot and his team have since been proven correct, with the British drugmaker now worth more than its American suitor, which is worth around £154 billion. In July, AstraZeneca itself snapped up Pfizer’s portfolio of gene therapy drugs in a deal worth nearly £800 million.

Five years ago, Soriot said he was one of the lowest-paid bosses in the pharmaceutical sector, a global industry where the heads of US giants make colossal sums.

He also stirred controversy this February, blaming the high cost of doing business in the UK for prompting AstraZeneca to switch plans for a £330 million investment in a manufacturing plant to Ireland. Soriot said he wanted to build a ‘state-of-the-art’ facility close to existing sites in the North West, but chose Ireland because the UK tax regime was ‘discouraging’.

He doubled down on the critique in April, describing Britain as ‘very unattractive for companies to invest’ in and warning it was difficult for pharma firms to establish manufacturing bases in the UK.

AstraZeneca became a household name at the height of the pandemic when it teamed up with Oxford University to produce a jab that was sold for no profit – though Soriot irked investors by spending much of the pandemic at his family home in Australia.

He risked shareholder ire again in 2021 leading a £28 billion takeover of US rare disease specialist Alexion, at the time the sector’s biggest acquisition since the pandemic began. The jab helped earn him a knighthood in 2022 for services to the life sciences sector.

After his exit, it is thought the father-of-two will spend more time in Australia, where his family live.

AstraZeneca declined to comment.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk