Exide Loses President and COO, Restructures

Exide Corp., the world’s largest maker of automotive batteries, said President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Johnson resigned to return to his former employer, Federal-Mogul Corp. The company also said it will restructure management into five customer-focused units, scrapping its geographic-based structure. Exide said Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Lutz will take over Johnson’s duties on an interim basis. The Reading, Pa.-based company hired Lutz, former vice chairman of Chrysler Corp., in late 1998 to reorganize a company that faced shareholder lawsuits and the departure of executives including former Chief Executive Arthur Hawkins. The company has also been trying to make its lead-acid batteries more efficiently and to diversify into other types that are lighter and less costly to produce. Exide fell 69 cents to close at $9.88 on the NYSE.