- After 17 years in the position
- Accolades, praise and thanks for Maheswaran
- Search for a successor
- Maheswaran said 113 words
(exechange) — Camarillo, California, March 16, 2023 — Mohan Maheswaran, chief executive of Semtech, is set to leave his position. As announced by Semtech Corp. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Thursday, March 16, 2023, Mohan R. Maheswaran will leave his post as chief executive officer at the semiconductor, IoT systems and service provider, after almost 17 years in the role, effective the earlier of September 14, 2024 or a date determined by the Board.
It is the end of an era.
The average tenure of CEOs who announced their departure over the past 12 months was 8.1 years. Around 14% of departing CEOs left their posts after more than 15 years. This is according to data collected by CEO-exit research firm exechange.
exechange tracks CEO departures at the 3,000 largest publicly traded companies in the U.S., examines the reasons CEOs leave and determines the Push‑out Score™, a measure of pressure on departing chief executives on a scale of 0 to 10.
Semtech stated: “Mr. Maheswaran has committed to providing 18 months of transition support to the company – continuing in his role as chief executive officer until a to-be-determined date as the company conducts a search for a new chief executive officer, and then continuing in a consulting role with the company for the balance of the 18 months.”
Semtech will undertake a search for a successor.
“The time has come for me to retire”
Mohan Maheswaran’s planned departure from the CEO post is explained as follows. Maheswaran stated: “Semtech has now transformed itself, and, as we approach the next phase of growth, the time has come for me to retire and create a smooth transition to our next leader.”
The top three reasons cited in corporate announcements for CEO departures over the past 12 months are performance issues (27.6% of cases), implementation of a planned succession (17.1%) and the statement that the time was right for a change (9.6%), according to exechange data. Other motives given for leadership changes included the outgoing CEO’s wish to pursue other opportunities (5.3% of cases), personal reasons (3.7%) and conduct issues (2.2%). Rather rarely stated reasons are health problems (1.6% of cases), disagreement (1.2%), death (1.2%), the desire for more time with family (0.9%) and career change (0.9%). Sometimes, more than one reason was given. In 28.6% of cases, no reason was given.
Precise information regarding Mohan Maheswaran’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retire”
Semtech said: “Mohan Maheswaran intends to retire from his role as Semtech’s president and chief executive officer after having served in such capacity for 17 years.”
Generally, retirements are seen as formally voluntary departures. Still, CEOs may also be pressured to accelerate their retirement plans. In fact, 35% of the time “retire” was used in CEO departure announcements over the past 12 months, the departing chief executives received Push-out Scores above the critical threshold of 5, indicating elevated pressure.
Share price decline since March 2022
The announcement follows a decline in Semtech Corp.’s share price of 55% since March 2022.
In the position of CEO since 2006
Mohan Maheswaran became CEO of the Company in 2006.
Maheswaran has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company since April 2006.
He was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Intersil Corporation (“Intersil”), a company that designs and manufactures analog semiconductors, from June 2002 until March 2006, responsible for managing and overseeing the design, development, applications and marketing functions for Intersil’s Analog Signal Processing Business unit.
From June 2001 to May 2002, he was Vice President of Marketing, Business Development and Corporate Strategy for Elantec Semiconductor, Inc., a company that designed and manufactured analog integrated circuits before its acquisition by Intersil in May 2002.
He was previously employed by Elantec Semiconductor as Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Strategy from January 2001 to June 2001; by Allayer Communications, a communications integrated circuit startup acquired by Broadcom Corporation; and by IBM Microelectronics, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Hewlett-Packard Company and Nortel Communications.
113 words by Mohan Maheswaran
In the news release announcing his planned departure as CEO of Semtech Corp., Mohan Maheswaran received accolades, praise and thanks.
In announcing the leadership change, Mohan Maheswaran said 113 words.
“Incredible journey”
Mohan Maheswaran stated: “The past 17 years at Semtech have been an incredible journey for me, and I am extremely proud of the numerous accomplishments over that time. We have built a strong company and team with a dynamic, innovative culture and with a portfolio of best-in-class growth engines in some of the most exciting growth markets in the industry. Semtech has now transformed itself, and, as we approach the next phase of growth, the time has come for me to retire and create a smooth transition to our next leader. I want to thank all of Semtech’s stockholders, customers, employees, and stakeholders who have enabled Semtech to become such a great company during my tenure.”
Over the past 12 months, 25% of all outgoing CEOs remained silent in the departure announcement, according to data compiled by exechange. Departing CEOs who did make a statement said an average of 110 words. The longest statement was 510 words. The shortest statement was 23 words. Leadership transitions in which departing CEOs provide conspicuously short, excessively long or no explanations for their move are statistically associated with elevated pressure and show an increased incidence of Push-out Scores above the critical threshold of 5.
39% of CEOs are forced out or fired
When CEO departures are announced, exechange determines the Push-out Score on a scale of 0 to 10 to assess how likely it is that the chief executive was pushed out or felt pressure to leave the position, with 0 being most likely a voluntary move and 10 being most likely a forced exit. Anything over a 5 indicates that there are valid reasons to believe an executive may have been pushed out.
Of the 322 CEO departures in the Russell 3000 Index evaluated over the past 12 months (March 16, 2022, to March 15, 2023), the average Push-out Score was 6, according to exechange data. References to conduct issues, disagreements and irregularities lead to the highest Push-out Scores. When performance issues, time with family or other opportunities were cited as departure reasons, the average Push-out Scores were also significantly elevated.
Around 39% of the CEO departure events from the past 12 months received Push-out Scores of 8 or higher.
In other words, in the past 12 months, three in eight departing CEOs were forced out or fired.
Push-out Score for Mohan Maheswaran’s move determined
The Push-out Score regarding Mohan Maheswaran’s move is explained point by point in the exechange report.
exechange reached out to Semtech and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 12.2023 ($).