Illumina CEO Francis deSouza Resigns Amid Investor Pressure and Regulatory Hurdles.
Francis deSouza has resigned as CEO of Illumina following mounting shareholder discontent around the company's $7.1 billion acquisition of early cancer detection startup Grail, which anti-monopoly regulators in the U.S. and Europe are seeking to unwind. The resignation came just weeks after the DNA sequencing company endured a proxy fight with activist investor Carl Icahn, who criticized the company's leadership for its handling of the Grail acquisition. DeSouza defended the decision to close the Grail acquisition before getting regulatory approval and said his belief in the potential of Grail's technology remains unshakeable.
