Royal Caribbean CEO Fain Is Stepping Down in January

(Bloomberg) -- Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Richard Fain is stepping down in January, ending the tenure of the longtime leader who brought the company through the coronavirus pandemic. 

Fain, 74, will cede his CEO post on Jan. 3 to Chief Financial Officer Jason Liberty, who is 46, the company said Tuesday. Fain will remain chairman.

In an interview Tuesday, Liberty said he would bring stability and continuity to the role, having been with the company since 2005. He said he saw himself as a little more numbers-based than his predecessor, but said he had a similar leadership style otherwise.

“The strategies that we have been employing are the strategies which I’ve codeveloped here with Richard and my colleagues over the past 13 years,” he said.

Fain became Royal Caribbean’s CEO in 1988 and is the third-longest-serving current chief of an S&P 500 company, the cruise giant said.

Royal Caribbean’s shares, like those of other cruise companies, dived in 2020 when the pandemic brought excursions to a halt. The stock’s value has more than quadrupled since its March 2020 low. 

The shares slipped 2.7% to $91.15 at 2:33 p.m. in New York trading on Tuesday. The declines were in line with other cruise shares on a day when U.S. benchmarks also slumped.

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