Help want­ed: New CEO to run Gilead as John Mil­li­gan steps down

Gilead $GILD CEO John Mil­li­gan is out.

In a com­plete­ly un­ex­pect­ed an­nounce­ment, the big biotech com­pa­ny re­port­ed right af­ter the mar­ket close Wednes­day evening that Mil­li­gan will re­main in his po­si­tion un­til the end of the year, as the board looks for his suc­ces­sor.

He’s step­ping down, but Mil­li­gan clear­ly has an­oth­er ca­reer chap­ter in mind.

“It has been an hon­or to work at Gilead for my en­tire pro­fes­sion­al ca­reer and, now that the com­pa­ny is on sol­id foot­ing for the fu­ture, the Board and I have agreed it is a good time to turn the reins over to a new leader,” said Mil­li­gan in a state­ment. “I’m look­ing for­ward to a well-de­served break and will then move on to new and dif­fer­ent op­por­tu­ni­ties.”

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