Peter Willmott, president and chief executive officer at the ailing Zenith Electronics Corp says he plans to retire in the next several months. Willmott had previously planned to retire at the end of 1998, but the move was made because Zenith is in need of new leadership sooner than that. The company says it was Willmott’s decision to step down and that he will remain on the board. Last month, Zenith canceled plans for a new picture tube manufacturing facility to save money (CI No 3,231) after having already sunk $100m into another plant which has yet to produce any tangible benefit to the company. In July, Zenith posted a second-quarter net loss of $49.3m on revenues that slid 7.2% to $261.8m. Willmott, who has held his current position since November of 1996 and has been a board member since 1990, will lead the search for his successor.
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