Illumina CEO DeSouza Resigns Following Pressure From Icahn
- Executive had been reelected to board at meeting last month
- Activist investor had begun pushing for board seats in March
Francis deSouza
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Illumina Inc.’s board accepted the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Francis deSouza, handing a victory to activist investor Carl Icahn who had been seeking his removal.
DeSouza had initially survived the activist’s attack when he was one of eight directors re-elected to the DNA-sequencing company’s board last month. But Illumina’s shareholders also elected Andrew Teno, a portfolio manager at Icahn Capital, to the board at the May 25 meeting.