Another day, another headache in the global press for GlaxoSmithKline and its CEO Andrew Witty. This time it’s an in-depth report in The Wall Street Journal in which some investors question Witty’s performance as the drug giant fights lagging sales and scandal.
GSK (NYSE: GSK) is under so much investigatory pressure over its business in China that the company set up a website to publish corporate statements about the matter. U.S. and U.K. investigators are involved.
On Friday, two investigators hired by GSK to look into a security matter involving the company’s senior China executive were convicted in a Chinese court.
And GSK’s latest earnings report didn’t impress Wall Street.
- Witty rebuts critics: “We’re making significant progress.”
The Journal added its international weight to pressure on Witty with the story published today:
“Glaxo’s Chief Faces Rising Pressure
“Witty Must Deal With Weak Sales, Bribery Allegations; Shares in Drug Maker Are Off 15%”
Reporter Hester Plumbridge writes:
“GlaxoSmithKline Chief Executive Andrew Witty is under pressure. Weak sales, disappointing new-drug launches, a profit warning and bribery allegations have helped cause a 15% slump in the drug maker’s shares this year, as those of its rivals have gained ground.”
Pressure “has been building,” one analyst tells Plumbridge.
The story does note expressions of support for Witty, who is fighting to rebuild the drug giant on multiple fronts. Witty declined to be interviewed for the story, The Journal says.
“He inherited a bad hand and he’s played that hand as well as he can,” Campbell adds.
“If he keeps misstepping over the next 12 months, pressure will definitely intensify.”
The full story can be read online.
GSK operates its North American headquarters in RTP.
[GSK ARCHIVE: Check out more than a decade of GSK stories as reported in WRAL TechWire.]
