Koji Nagai, Nomura Holdings Inc. CEO, has resigned after being in the post for seven years. Co-chief operating officer Kentaro Okuda will be taking over the company’s leadership at a time when the company is seeing an overseas restructuring plan bearing fruit. 

Nagai would be taking up the role of Chairman starting April 1 when Okuda will take up the role of CEO. During his time as the CEO, Nagai faced losses for the company abroad leading to three major cost-cutting exercises, the most recent of which were earlier in 2019. These efforts are showing early success and the share prices have risen to the highest level in the last one year or more. 

The company’s profits have climbed up to the highest in the last 17 years in the most recent quarter, leading to a positive sentiment about Nagai’s leadership. 

As far as Okuda’s future responsibilities go, he will now face the uphill battle of reviving retail operations at home in the middle of a stock trading slump. 

Key takeaway: 

This movement in Nomura Holdings Inc. is a classic example of how leadership appointments shape and redefine stakeholder sentiments and in turn the share prices of a particular company. Thus, even through tough decisions such as cost-cutting efforts are a part of the CEO’s job description, understanding the market trends is also a skill that a CXO is required to possess in today’s fast-evolving world of work. 

Image credit: Reuters