Chevron Waives Retirement Age for CEO Mike Wirth
Oil giant reports higher-than-expected profit in the second quarter Mike Wirth would reach the company’s fixed retirement age of 65 in late 2025. Photo: CALLAGHAN O’HARE/REUTERS By Collin Eaton July 23, 2023 9:06 pm ET Chevron’s board of directors is waiving the company’s fixed retirement age for Chief Executive Mike Wirth, allowing him to remain CEO for a longer period as it weighs its C-suite strategy. The Wall Street Journal had reported in February that Chevron’s board was considering the move. Some directors have said the company doesn’t have an internal candidate ready to succeed Wirth, who would reach the company’s fixed retirement age of 65 in late 2025, and that additional time would allow him to prepare a successor, according to people fami
Mike Wirth would reach the company’s fixed retirement age of 65 in late 2025.
Photo: CALLAGHAN O’HARE/REUTERS
Chevron’s board of directors is waiving the company’s fixed retirement age for Chief Executive Mike Wirth, allowing him to remain CEO for a longer period as it weighs its C-suite strategy.
The Wall Street Journal had reported in February that Chevron’s board was considering the move. Some directors have said the company doesn’t have an internal candidate ready to succeed Wirth, who would reach the company’s fixed retirement age of 65 in late 2025, and that additional time would allow him to prepare a successor, according to people familiar with the matter.
The board “concluded it has the right leader and strategy in place to continue the company’s successful trajectory,” Wanda Austin, Chevron’s lead independent director, said in a statement Sunday.
Chevron also said on Sunday it banked a $6 billion profit in the second quarter, about 6% higher than analysts expected, according to FactSet. That is down from its quarterly record of $11.6 billion in the same period last year, when oil and natural-gas prices had spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company reports second-quarter earnings Friday.
Wirth, who will turn 63 later this year, is an engineer and Chevron employee for over 40 years. He became chairman and CEO in 2018, when the company was reeling from years of cost overruns made more acute by an oil-market crash in 2015 and anemic energy prices.
Having led Chevron’s refining and chemicals business for almost a decade, Wirth was seen as an executive who could corral runaway costs and return the company’s focus to its margins. In 2019, he refused to enter a bidding war with Occidental Petroleum, which was willing to pay billions more for Anadarko Petroleum than Chevron had offered.
Wirth has served as CEO for more than five years. Chevron’s chief executives have typically served eight to 11 years in recent years. Other high-profile companies have waived, adjusted or done away with mandatory retirement ages for their top brass, including Target, Caterpillar and Boeing.
Write to Collin Eaton at [email protected]
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