AMSTERDAM, Aug 17 ― Philips Chief Executive Frans van Houten will leave the company in October, the Dutch health technology firm said yesterday, after a key product recall cut its market value by more than half over the past year.
When it started the recall in September last year, Philips said it expected to complete the replacement and repair of all affected machines within a year. That is more than twice as many reports as it received for the entire year to April 30, 2022, which totalled over 21,000. They included 124 deaths.The complaints do not prove causality, but are an indicator of the severity of the problem.
Philips estimated the costs of the recall at €900 million. That sum does not cover the possible costs of litigation. The company is facing more than a hundred class action suits.