Educational publisher Pearson Plc replaced its Chief Executive Officer Andy Bird months after a shareholder revolt over his pay and amid concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the business.
(Bloomberg) — Educational publisher Pearson Plc replaced its Chief Executive Officer Andy Bird months after a shareholder revolt over his pay and amid concerns about the impact of artificial intelligence on the business.
The incoming CEO is Omar Abbosh, president of Microsoft Corp.’s Industry Solutions business and a former Accenture executive, Pearson said in a statement on Wednesday.
Bird came out of retirement to join London-based Pearson from the Walt Disney Co. in 2020. He put his efforts into accelerating a long, difficult pivot for the company from an eroding textbooks business to direct-to-consumer technology through platform Pearson+.
In April, two shareholder advisory firms criticized Bird’s $11 million pay package as “excessive.” Abbosh will receive a base salary of £1 million ($1.2 million), and his awards and bonus potential will be capped, the company said in the statement.
“Further shareholder ire is likely as a result of Pearson spending about £13 million to compensate Abbosh for losing restricted shares at current employer Microsoft,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst John Davies said.
Shares in the company have fallen almost 6% this year, partly on fears that tools like ChatGPT could upend the online education industry.
This July, Pearson said it was introducing study tools based on generative AI for the upcoming school year.
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