Sir John Buchanan is preparing to step down as deputy chairman of UK mobile giant Vodafone, as he gears up to undertake a new chairmanship role at local semiconductor firm ARM Holdings, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
Vodafone declined to comment on the…
Sir John Buchanan is preparing to step down as deputy chairman of UK mobile giant Vodafone, as he gears up to undertake a new chairmanship role at local semiconductor firm ARM Holdings, TelecomFinance has confirmed.
Vodafone declined to comment on the speculation.
Sir John, who will become chairman of ARM on 3 May, has been deputy chairman of Vodafone since July 2003. This means he will soon surpass the UK’s nine-year threshold for being considered as an independent board member of a company. However, The Sunday Telegraph reported on 1 April that, despite still being able to remain on Vodafone’s board past this threshold, Sir John has decided to step down entirely to focus on his new duties at ARM, as well as at UK prosthetic limb manufacturer Smith and Nephew, where he is also chairman.
The mobile operator, along with Indian telco Tata Communications, has until 19 April to declare whether it intends to bid for UK-based fibre operator Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW).
Meanwhile, Vodafone continues to strongly deny reported claims of a boardroom split over the potential CWW acquisition. London newspaper City AM reported on 22 March that Sir John had doubts about the deal over the potential for reputational damage. This is because, if Vodafone were to acquire CWW, the tax losses of the fibre operator could be used to offset the cost of the acquisition or to produce a long tax holiday for Vodafone.
The newspaper reported that, while using a company’s tax losses in this way would be legal, some Vodafone board members were concerned that it could tarnish the company’s brand. Vodafone has previously been criticised by some commentators, including local campaign group UK Uncut, for alleged tax avoidance.
