Richard Bracken, CEO and chairman of Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), will be retiring as CEO at the end of the year, the company announced Monday. He will remain board chairman.
The company’s board of directors has named R. Milton Johnson, HCA’s president and CFO, as Bracken’s successor, effective upon Bracken’s retirement. Johnson has been with HCA for 31 years. An internal search for a CFO is being conducted, the company said in a news release.
Bracken joined HCA in 1981. Under his tenure as CEO, he led the company back to being publicly-traded.
[See also: HCA announces plan to go public again.]
According to The Tennessean, Wall Street analysts expect a smooth transition and believe, given the company’s preview of strong financial second quarter results, that his leaving is not tied to the company’s operations.
A filing with the SEC in mid-July said the company is reaffirming previously issued guidance for 2013 and it estimates its second quarter revenues to be $8.45 billion compared to $8.112 billion in the second quarter of 2012, surpassing analysts estimates, according to the Wall Street Journal.
HCA stock closed Monday at $39.04 a share and had dropped to $38.39 by mid-morning on Tuesday.