Teladoc Board Moves on From CEO Gorevic
Jason Gorevic is out as CEO of Teladoc Health Inc., the virtual care company he had led since 2009 and grown from a few million dollars in annual sales to $2.6 billion last year.
The directors of Purchase, New York-based Teladoc announced the move April 5 and said Gorevic’s departure was effective immediately. Taking over on an interim basis from the 52-year-old Gorevic is Mala Murthy, who has been the company’s CFO since 2019.
“We thank Jason for his many achievements and contributions during the 15 years he led Teladoc Health,” said David Snow Jr., chairman of the Teladoc board. “We are confident that this leadership transition will position the company for long-term success and value creation.”
Some of our past coverage of Teladoc's promise and struggles
Nov. 22, 2021 – Teladoc Looking to 'Big and Binary' Deals for Global Growth
Feb. 23, 2022 – Teladoc CEO: 'I See Really Only Tailwinds Going Forward'
April 28, 2022 – Teladoc CEO Speaks to Company's Challenges
July 28, 2022 – Teladoc Teeters as Telehealth Market Morphs
Before coming to Teladoc, which employs about 5,600 people, Murthy was CFO of the Global Commercial Services segment at American Express Inc. and held senior positions during a 17-year career at PepsiCo. The 60-year-old earned a master’s degree in public and private management from the Yale School of Management as well as MBA from the India Institute of Management.
Gorevic’s exit comes after two tough years for Teladoc as it sought to first capitalize on the telehealth boom spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and then adapt to a changing market. (See the sidebar spotlighting some of our past coverage.) It ended last year with about 90 million members—brought to it primarily by insurance plans offering virtual primary care options—but has struggled to consistently cross-sell chronic care products to that audience.
“We believe the company’s inability to capitalize on opportunities in chronic care and the slowdown in behavioral could have been key points of dissonance between the CEO and the board,” Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill wrote after Teladoc’s news.
After reporting fourth-quarter results in mid-February—Teladoc had a net loss of $220 million in 2023—Gorevic noted that the virtual-care market is “fairly well penetrated” and that growth in that segment will be slow in coming years. On top of that, he and Murthy said overall customer acquisition costs are likely to remain above historical levels and added that they are looking to offshoring and automation projects as well as lower supplier spending as ways to boost Teladoc’s bottom line.
Shares of Teladoc (Ticker: TDOC) rose slightly April 5 on word of Gorevic’s exit and climbed another percentage point April 8 to $14.62. But they’re still down 20% from six months ago and more than 90% from their peak in early 2021. The company’s market capitalization is now about $2.4 billion.
