Bankrupt firm PG&E’s CEO to retire

(Reuters) – Bankrupt power producer PG&E Corp said on Wednesday Chief Executive Officer William Johnson would retire after more than a year with the company and be replaced by William Smith on an interim basis.

Smith, current PG&E board member and former president of AT&T Technology Services, will take over after Johnson’s departure on June 30.

California-based PG&E and its utility unit filed for bankruptcy in January 2019, citing more than $30 billion in potential liabilities from major wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that were linked to its equipment.

The company appointed William Johnson to the top job on April 3, 2019, to steer it through its Chapter 11 proceedings and stabilize its operations.

“By the end of June, I expect that both of these goals will have been met,” Johnson said in a statement.

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)