Dive Summary:
- Bill Johnson, the former Progress Energy CEO who was ousted as the chief executive at Duke Energy almost immediately after the two companies merged, testified as expected in front of the North Carolina Utilities Commission Thursday.
- Johnson said the concerns over his leadership at Progress were not raised with him, even though current Duke Energy Corp. Chief Executive Jim Rogers said those concerns led to the CEO swap.
- Johnson was originally supposed to become Duke's CEO, with Rogers stepping aside to become executive chairman.
From the article:
Bill Johnson, ousted as Chief Executive of Duke Energy Corp. DUK -0.12% just hours after its $26 billion merger with Progress Energy Inc. earlier this month, told state regulators Thursday that the company's board had never communicated any concerns about his leadership style before abruptly forcing him to resign.
"It seems odd to me that if these issues were burning issues, I never heard about them from anybody," Mr. Johnson testified under oath before the North Carolina Utilities Commission, adding, "You don't get to be a CEO by not paying attention to signals from board members." ...
