Vodafone Denies Arun Sarin Resignation Rumours

Vodafone downplayed speculation that its CEO, Arun Sarin would be leaving the company in the near future - attributing a sharp rise in its share price to general stock market sentiment for telecoms stocks.

"I cannot comment on the existence of any rumours, but no one is taking the suggestion that Sarin has resigned seriously, because it is totally incorrect" a Vodafone spokesperson told said, adding that "Telefonica's shares rose 7 per cent on Thursday, Vodafone's shares were also up reflecting investors views on the sector... Nobody has suggested that this is in any way related to issues against Sarin."

The "nobody" being most of the media though, with the UK newspaper The Telegraph commenting that "The stock rose 8.5 pence to 179.5 pence on the back of market rumours that Sarin, whose strategy has been criticised in some quarters, might have decided to resign".

Shares remained flat on Friday as the market calmed down a bit.

Sarin was under considerable pressure shortly after he took the top job at Vodafone - particularly following the abortive attempt to buy AT&T Wireless and revelations of unexpected tax liabilities for the company. There has been a significant turnaround in opinion though, since he refocused on acquisitions in emerging markets, particularly Turkey and India.

Posted to the site on 14th October 2007