Ericsson's Frykhammar out in yet another front-office reshuffle

Ericsson said goodbye to another longtime executive as the company has once again reshuffled its front office.

Jan Frykhammar, executive vice president and advisor to the CEO, left the company effective today. Frykhammar, a former CFO at Ericsson who had 26 years under his belt at the company, was appointed interim CEO in July 2016 when the company ousted former chief Hans Vestberg.

Fredrik Jejdling, who serves as the head of Ericsson’s Business Area Networks, will expand his role to include the EVP position. Magnus Mandersson, who had also served as EVP and advisor to the CEO, also left the company effective immediately.

“Jan Frykhammar has been invaluable to the company during his 26 years at Ericsson, not least when stepping up as interim CEO in a time when leadership and momentum was of utmost importance,” Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm said in a press release. “Magnus has been instrumental in building up the company’s services business, and in establishing and nurturing some of our most important customer relationships.”

The moves come amid a brutal market for telecom gear vendors as carriers plot their strategies to transition to 5G. Ericsson’s revenue fell 6% year over year during its latest quarter to $5.9 billion, marking its fourth straight quarterly loss. Its net loss came in at $590 million, significantly worse than the $24.5 million net loss it posted last year, and network sales dropped 4% annually.

The company posted an operating loss of $145.3 million in the second quarter of 2017, marking a dramatic reversal from the $338.2 million profit it posted during the same period a year ago, and in March it unveiled plans to streamline its operations by combining products and services and upping its investments in both R&D and “services capabilities” in several core areas.

Earlier this year, the company announced that Rima Qureshi, senior vice president and head of Market Area North America, had left the company.