The UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty has dramatically announced his resignation after the firm reported a poor financial outlook in its 2025 forecast.
Witty has overseen the healthcare giant since February 2021, and managed the crisis after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was assassinated in Manhattan in December 2024.
Witty’s departure was announced Tuesday as the company said he was leaving for ‘personal reasons’, without elaborating.
Witty’s resignation sent the share price of UnitedHealth down 10 percent, and other health insurers such as Humana and Elevance down between four and six percent premarket.
It comes a month after UnitedHealth posted its first earnings miss since 2008 in April and warned shareholders it was lowering its annual earnings outlook, citing ‘unanticipated changes’ in the healthcare industry.
A surge in demand for healthcare services for Medicare recipients nationwide has cut into profits for many providers.
The healthcare industry-at-large is also still suffering from a rough 2024 amid lower government payments, elevated medical costs and public backlash to the sector after Thompson’s slaying.
The assassination brought a wave of outrage from disgruntled patients who claimed they were undercut or hurt by the insurer’s policies, which caused its stock to nosedive at the time.
Last month, UnitedHealth shareholders launched a lawsuit against the company for allegedly concealing how backlash from the killing hurt its business and profits.
The UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty has dramatically announced his resignation
Witty has overseen the healthcare giant since February 2021, and managed the crisis after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson (pictured) was assassinated in Manhattan in December 2024
After Witty announced his resignation on Tuesday, the firm’s former CEO Chris Hemsley, who has been with the healthcare conglomerate for 28 years, was returning to the top role.
Kevin Gade, chief operating officer at Bahl and Gaynor, told Reuters that the resignation was only surprising in its abruptness, although the struggles that UnitedHealth has faced were well known in the industry.
‘The abruptness (of Witty’s exit) certainly is a surprise but no one should be surprised given the unique struggles of UNH versus peers,’ he said.
‘At a certain point, leadership must be held accountable.’
Before Thompson’s assassination, UnitedHealth was also facing scrutiny after it was the target of a cyberattack at its tech unit that shut down its healthcare processing systems used by 200 million Americans.
Witty previously came under the spotlight following Thompson’s shooting, as he was tasked with keeping the company afloat amid widespread backlash to its practices.
In the aftermath of the shooting, many expressed online outrage over the company’s history of rejecting necessary treatment – especially under Thompson – as they praised alleged gunman Luigi Mangione for his actions.
Witty, seen testifying to Congress in May 2024 after a cyberattack on UnitedHealth’s databases, was thrust into the limelight following Thompson’s assassination
In the aftermath of the shooting, many expressed online outrage over the company’s history of rejecting necessary treatment as they praised alleged gunman Luigi Mangione (seen during his perp walk in December 2024) for his actions
In response, Witty was seen in a leaked video to staff insisting that he was proud of ‘what this company does on behalf of people in need across the country.’
He even claimed few people ‘in the history of the US healthcare industry [have] had a biggest effect on American healthcare than Brian.’
