Rio Tinto CEO Stausholm to step down in surprise move

By Melanie Burton and Clara Denina

MELBOURNE/LONDON (Reuters) -Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm, who in his 4-1/2 year tenure oversaw a cultural overhaul at a firm strongly criticised for workplace toxicity, is to step down later this year, the miner said in a surprise to investors on Thursday.

The world's largest iron ore miner named Stausholm as its top boss in late 2020 while grappling with legal, public and investor angst over the destruction of Australia's ancient Juukan Gorge rock shelters, which led to the ousting of its former CEO.

One of Stausholm's early moves was commissioning a report on workplace culture at the firm, which in 2022 outlined widespread incidents of bullying, harassment and racism.

During his tenure the group also pledged a strong pivot towards addressing climate change, committing to achieving an "impeccable ESG" performance.

"This news comes as a big surprise, and in our view was not expected," Berenberg analyst Richard Hatch said. "No clear reason for his departure has been given by the company other than to state that now is 'a natural moment' to appoint a successor – but it does not feel that natural to us."

Under Stausholm Rio has taken a big bet on battery metal lithium, with its Rincon project in Argentina, its $6.7 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Arcadium Lithium and $900 million investment in Codelco's Maricunga lithium project.

"We had expected Mr Stausholm to remain with the company and drive the integration of the lithium business, so his exit comes as a surprise," Hatch said.

Stausholm - one of a number of candidates considered for the role in 2020, including BAE Systems CEO Charles Woodburn and Newmont boss and former Rio executive Tom Palmer, will continue at the helm until a new CEO is appointed.

A selection process for his successor is underway, Rio said in a stock exchange filing. Internal contenders are expected to include Chief Commercial Officer Bold Baatar, head of iron ore Simon Trott and aluminium boss Jerome Pecresse.

Investors said they expected Rio to mount an external search but it may have to compete for candidates with BHP, whose CEO Mike Henry is widely expected to step down in the next year.

"He's done a good job on the soft issues," analyst Glyn Lawcock at Barrenjoey in Sydney, including repairing relationships after Juukan Gorge and advancing the company's Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia.

But there has also been some controversy. Sources and documents seen by Reuters showed earlier this year that accidents at the company's giant Simandou iron ore project in West Africa had killed more than a dozen workers between June 2023 and November 2024.

Stausholm had also faced a push by activist investor Palliser Capital and more than 100 other shareholders to review its model of listing in both London and Sydney, a campaign rejected by shareholders in May.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton, Clara Denina, Rishav Chatterjee; Writing by Jan Harvey; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Jan Harvey, Veronica Brown and Jason Neely)