“It’s been pretty disastrous for shareholders. I wouldn’t say the biggest corporate cock-up in UK history, but it’s certainly been value destroying in a big, big way,” says Ben Yearsley, investment consultant at Fairview Investing and a former Hargreaves Lansdown manager.
In an update shared with investors on Friday, Abrdn said Bird’s exit follows a “significant strategic repositioning” of the company.
The Edinburgh-based firm said it was a mutual decision between its board and chief executive that it was the “right time” for him to depart.
Abrdn is now on the hunt for his successor and will consider external candidates as part of its search for “fresh leadership”, although did not provide a time-frame for the process.
Jason Windsor, Abrdn’s chief financial officer, will temporarily take control of the business as interim group chief executive until the recruitment process is finished.
Mr Windsor only joined the company last October having previously served as chief financial officer of Persimmon Homes and Aviva.
His appointment comes despite the former Morgan Stanley banker coming under fire from investors after the shareholder advisory firm Glass Lewis argued his £675,000 salary is too high.
The proxy adviser questioned why Mr Windsor’s salary is 25pc higher than his predecessor’s, Stephanie Bruce.
Critics of Abrdn’s lacklustre performance in recent years point to the rocky integration of Standard Life and Aberdeen’s legacy operations.
They also highlight Bird’s decision to pay through the nose in its £1.5bn takeover of Interactive Investor, the UK’s second largest retail investment platform.
One of Bird’s first major decisions on becoming chief executive was to rename Standard Life Aberdeen to Abrdn. He claimed the corporate makeover would be designed to create a “modern, agile, digitally enabled brand” after selling Standard Life to insurer Phoenix Group in February 2021.
However, the move was widely mocked as confusing and nonsensical.
Analysts on Friday suggested that Bird’s exit was driven by divisions with Abrdn’s board over strategic direction.
They draw on previous reports that Bird pitched the idea of carving up Abrdn by selling its struggling asset management business to focus on its platforms for savers and financial advisers.
However, the board is said to have rejected the proposal and instead supported its current turnaround plan to slash £150m in annual costs by 2025, Financial News reported.
Any savings from the transformation initiative, which included 500 job cuts, is hoped to bring Abrdn’s investment business back to profitability.