Hershey Co. announced today (Jan. 10) that Michele Buck, who’s been CEO since 2017 and chairman since 2019, informed the board of directors she intends to retire from the company effective June 30, 2026. Buck will continue in her existing roles until her successor is appointed, at which time she plans to resign from the board and transition to a senior advisor role until her retirement.
Although that date is a ways off, the announcement comes at a curious time. In December, several financial reports said Mondelez International was bidding to buy Hershey. Just one day later, Michael Del Pozzo, president of Hershey’s U.S. confection business, left the company to return to PepsiCo, the company from which he departed to join Hershey just three months earlier. Buck said she would take his job till a replacement is found.
While it’s a public company, effective control is held by the Milton Hershey School Trust, which reportedly (but not publicly) turned down Mondelez’s offer. A day after that report, Mondelez announced a $9 billion share repurchase and reaffirmed its philosophy of “bolt-on acquisitions,” both of which would appear to preclude further pursuit of Hershey.
Anyways, Hershey’s board has formed a committee to direct the search for the next CEO, saying it will consider external and internal candidates, in partnership with a nationally recognized search firm.
"It has been the pinnacle of my career to lead Hershey, a truly one-of-a-kind company,” said Buck, who noted she’s starting her 20th year at the company. “Our team has created one of the strongest and most recognizable snacking portfolios in the industry and I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished."
The board paid its usual compliments to Buck.
It’s a tough time to be making chocolate, with cocoa prices near all-time highs and GLP-1 drugs presumably beginning to reduce sales of both candy and salty snacks, which Hershey has heavily invested in. On Nov. 7, Hershey reported its third-quarter financial results, all of which were negative. Sales were down 1.4% to $2,987.5 million, net income decreased 12.7% to $446 million and adjusted earnings per share dropped 10% to $2.34.
