Coke Elects New Chief Sooner Than Expected

Coca-Cola Co., facing a flagging stock price and a dramatic restructuring of its operations, elected Douglas Daft chairman and chief executive two months earlier than planned. Daft was designated the heir apparent to retiring Chairman and Chief Executive Douglas Ivester in early December, but the 56-year-old Australian was not expected to take over the top job formally until April. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, the world’s largest soft-drink maker, also announced that Jack Stahl had been elected president and chief operating officer. Last month, the beverage giant named Stahl to become its second-in-command. Ivester said Thursday that he was retiring because he had fulfilled a pledge, made late last year, to remain in the top job until Coca-Cola had completed a smooth transition to a new management team. Coca-Cola shares, hit hard last year by a contamination scare in Belgium and France, a racial discrimination lawsuit and problems with European regulators, have fallen about 17% since Ivester announced he would retire. The stock fell $1.25 to close at $52.31 on the New York Stock Exchange.