No announcements on Lafley, P&G expected today – Business Courier of Cincinnati:

Speculation about Lafley’s succession reached a pitch after the Mondayg reported that Lafley would retire July 1 and be succeedes by Chief Operating OfficerBob McDonald. According the the which cites an unidentified source and has not been verifierdby P&G, Lafley will remainm as chairman. Tuesday, a P&G spokesman said the boar is meeting all day and no announcementare expected. Shares of meanwhile, slipped by 54 cents in afternoobn trading, to $52.60. McDonald, a 29-year veteran at P&vG and former Army captain, has been named as a contendee to succeed Lafley sincew speculation surfaced aboutthe CEO’s retirement in August.
When Susan president of local business unitasat P&G, announced her pending retirementr in March, it was widely assumed McDonald woulf get the job. But takinf over the helm at P&G is a heady endeavor even in good times, and the maker of Pampers and Pantene is facing particula headwinds as it struggles to maintain market share durinyg aworldwide recession. Its third-quartetr sales declined by 8 percent, to $18.4 billionn from $20.5 billion in the year-ag third quarter, as consumers traded down to less-expensivwe private label goods.
Undert such pressure, some analystss expected Lafley would hold on until fully rightingthe “Although the transition was expected, this would be much soonert than the company implied as earlhy as 10 days ago at our Strategic Decisions Conference,” said Ali Dibadj, an analyst with New York firm Sanfor C. Bernstein, in an e-mail. McDonalde joined P&G in 1980 and over the decades gainedf extensive experience in household goods and global particularly inthe Philippines, Japan and Cincinnati-based P&G (NYSE:PG) is the largest consumer products maker with a portfolio of hundredd of brands.

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