(Bloomberg) -- Hershey Co. Chief Executive Officer Michele Buck will step down from her role next year and the company has started a search for her successor.
Buck, 63, told the board that she intends to retire on June 30, 2026, Hershey announced in a statement Friday. She will stay on as CEO and as a board member until a new leader is found. Then she’ll resign from the board and transition to an advisory role until her retirement.
Hershey shares fell 2.5% in New York trading Friday. The stock has declined 6.6% this month after posting a 9.2% drop in 2024.
The board is considering internal and external CEO candidates and has appointed a special committee to direct the search. Buck has led Hershey since 2017, with shares rising 45% during her tenure. That’s below the advance of the S&P 500 Index over the same period.
The leadership transition follows a sustained rise in cocoa prices that has put pressure on the maker of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Almond Joy treats. While Hershey owns snacking brands such as Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels and Skinnypop popcorn, the company is seen as less diversified in its product portfolio than competitors such as Mondelez International Inc., Mars Inc. and Nestle SA.
Nestle has a wider range of products spanning from dairy to coffee, while Mars has invested in pet food and last year announced the purchase of snacks maker Kellanova. Mondelez, which recently tried to buy Hershey, has profited from the growing popularity of Oreo cookies and also owns brands like Triscuits candy and Halls candy.
“We believe the announcement will act as a near-term overhang until the next leadership team is announced,” Stephens analysts including Jim Salera wrote in a research note. They added that there’s still uncertainty regarding consumers, who have pulled back spending amid higher prices, and how cocoa prices will progress.
Cocoa prices almost tripled last year as disease and bad weather hurt crops in Ivory Coast and Ghana, which usually account for more than 60% of global supply. Beans are so scarce that Hershey is asking the US’s top derivatives regulator for permission to buy a huge amount through the New York exchange, according to people familiar with the matter.
Hershey wants to take a position that will allow it to purchase more than 90,000 metric tons of cocoa on ICE Futures US, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The request to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission equates to about 5,000 20-foot containers and is more than nine times the amount the exchange currently allows.
The move signals that management doesn’t think cocoa pricing is collapsing, Bernstein said in a note to clients. It also points to the fact that the company doesn’t seem fully or normally hedged for 2025.
In December, Bloomberg reported that Mondelez was exploring an acquisition of Hershey in a deal that would create a food giant with combined sales of almost $50 billion. The takeover offer was rejected as too low by the iconic chocolate maker’s main owner, Hershey Trust Co., which controls roughly 80% of the voting power at the company.
Following Friday’s announcement, Hershey Trust said in an emailed statement that succession planning is a decision made by the company’s board, “and we have great confidence in Hershey’s ability to realize its full potential and deliver long-term growth for all shareholders.”
Buck is the only woman leading a food company listed on the S&P 500 Index and was recently named to the board of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
“This year will be my 20th at Hershey and as we embark on a new year, I believe now is the right time to formally activate our succession planning and begin the transition to Hershey’s next leader,” Buck said in the company’s statement.
“Michele knows that business inside out and backwards,” said Will Papa, a former chief of research and development at Hershey under Buck’s leadership. “It’s going to be hard to replace her.”
Semafor earlier reported the leadership transition.
--With assistance from Isis Almeida and Jeff Green.
(Adds analyst voice in seventh paragraph and statement from Hershey Trust in 11th paragraph.)
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.