TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Johnson & Johnson's longtime CEO, Bill Weldon, is retiring in April, following an embarrassing string of product recalls over more than two years that has cost the health care giant hundreds of millions of dollars and consumer trust.
The maker of Band-Aids and biotech drugs said Tuesday that Weldon will remain chairman of the board for the time being, while ceding the chief executive post to Alex Gorsky, head of the medical device and diagnostics business.
Weldon, 63, has spent his entire career at J&J and became chief executive in 2002. The departure was described as normal succession planning. But Weldon has repeatedly said he had no plans to leave unless asked to do so by the board of directors, which has long been loyal to him.
His tenure has been tarnished by more than two dozen recalls that began in 2009.
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