PepsiCo chief executive to step aside after twelve years

PepsiCo's longstanding head Indra Nooyi has chosen to stand down after twelve years in the role, putting the company's fate into the hands of Ramon Laguarta, who was elevated to president in 2017.

Nooyi, who will move aside as chief executive on 3 October before stepping down as the soda maker's chairman in early 2019, ran PepsiCo for a dozen years and even fended off an activist investor's attempt to break up the company from 2014 to 2016.

Under Nooyi's guided PepsiCo from a simple soft drink company and helped it expand into healthier products such as hummus and kombucha, albeit to mixed results.

Throughout the course of Nooyi's tenure, PepsiCo saw revenues increase 81% - hitting $63.5bn in 2017.

Laguarta, the 22-year PepsiCo vet poised to take her place, was made Nooyi's right-hand man back in September. At the time, the chief executive stated she intended to remain in the role "for the foreseeable future".

Nooyi's departure is just one of many in a spate of high-profile chief executive exits across the food and beverage industry, as established brands have seen shelf space be taken over by smaller upstarts

Both Coca-Cola Mondelez changed up their leaders last year, with Campbell Soup following suit earlier in 2018.

As of 1400 BST, PepsiCo shares had ticked up 0.83% to $117.26 each.