UnitedHealth, Brian Thompson and Stephen Hemsley
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The executive earlier caused public outrage when he defended the insurance giant’s practice of denying health care claims.
UnitedHealth Group revealed on Tuesday that its CEO Andrew Witty is stepping down due to personal reasons. Witty would remain a senior advisor as he is replaced by former CEO and longtime company leader Stephen Hemsley, who has been board chair since 2017.
UnitedHealth Group surprises investors with what its CEO said was an "unusual and unacceptable" quarterly earnings miss, and lowers its outlook for the full year due to higher-than-expected medical costs, sparking a more than 20% selloff in shares that reverberated across the sector.
UnitedHealth shares fell 22% on April 17, wiping out about $119 billion of market value, after the insurer cut its 2025 forecast.
UnitedHealth Group announced the surprise exit of CEO Andrew Witty on Tuesday and suspended its 2025 forecast due to surging medical costs, sending its shares down more than 10% premarket.
Andrew Witty's exit comes only a few weeks after UnitedHealth cut its annual forecast and reported its first earnings miss since the 2008 financial crisis, marking a major setback under Witty's leadership.
UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley, who replaced Andrew Witty, said he has the right strategy in place “for the era ahead.”
A group of investors this week filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group, alleging that the company withheld information following the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last December.
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