Wow, I didn’t see this coming. Progress CEO Bill Johnson takes whatever golden parachute he was offered and bails. Feels like a bait and switch. If I didn’t have reason to suspect this deal wasn’t a good one for the public, now my suspicions are on high alert.
It makes me all the more curious as to why the public wasn’t privy to the backroom deals that were made to ram this merger through. I sure hope the N&O and other news organizations are successful in dragging these private deals into the light. There’s smoke: now go find the fire.
Duke Chairman and CEO Jim Rogers had been scheduled to serve as chairman and [Bill] Johnson as president and CEO when the two utilities merged to create the nation’s largest electric utility.
However, in the announcement early Tuesday of the formal merger closing and the formation of a new board of directors, the new Duke Energy said Rogers was staying and Johnson was out.
Johnson “resigned” through “mutual agreement” Duke said. He had been a strong advocate for the merger.
via Progress CEO is out as Duke, Progress complete merger :: WRAL.com.