Vodafone’s chief executive Arun Sarin has decided to step down by end of July. He will be replaced by Vittorio Colao, currently responsible for Vodafone’s European operations. Sarin, who was heading the mobile giant since 2003, said that he has accomplished the task, assigned to him after the exit of Sir Christofer Gent.
Sarin pulled Vodafone out of difficult markets, at the same time extended it’s reach to different global markets quite successfully. He cut company’s debts, introduced mobile telecom products and made history with India’s Hutchison Essar takeover in 2007. Sarin more than doubled company’s user base from 100m to 260m in the span of 4 years.
In 2006, 10% of shareholders claimed he lacked vision and voted against his reappointment. But Sarin proved them wrong by reporting a jump of 5.7% (£10.1m) in operating profits and the growth of 14% (£35.5bn) in revenues. Mr.Sarin is confident that Vodafone’s operating profits will zoom to £11.5bn in the current year with phenomenal growth in the new markets.
Sarin’s future plans are not known but he is likely to move into private equity. Sarin’s successor Vittorio Colao, 46, rejoined Vodafone in 2006, and since then been identified as future CEO.