In 2024, Novo Nordisk was Europe’s most valuable company. Its blockbuster drugs used for weight loss, Ozempic and Wegovy, became a worldwide sensation. In the two years since, competition in the market intensified, and Novo Nordisk is no longer at the top—but it’s working on a comeback.

I spoke with Novo Nordisk’s CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen about the turnaround strategy, which is off to a good start with earnings that beat expectations in Q1. An excerpt from our conversation is later in this newsletter.

Until next time.

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ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Inflation is getting worse, approaching a three-year high. Prices in April were up 3.8% compared to a year before, increasing 0.6% in the last month alone, according to Bureau of Labor Statisti figures released this morning. And while energy costs drove much of the increase—up 17.9% in the last year—core inflation, minus food and fuel, was 2.8%.

As costs climb, views on the U.S. economy dropped to another record low this month in the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey—down to 48.2, from 49.2 in April. Consumers said both tariffs and gas prices make them feel down on the economy—and gas prices continue to surge, hitting a nationwide average of $4.50 a gallon today, according to AAA. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will suspend the federal gas tax to give Americans a bit of a break, which is only 18.3 cents a gallon—far less than the average price increase in the last month.

Other indicators aren’t reflecting confidence. Last week, the U.S. debt grew to the size of the U.S. economy—a line not crossed since World War II, writes Forbes senior contributor Erik Sherman. This means higher borrowing costs and interest rates, and it should also usher in tighter financial conditions for the government. Sherman also writes that while jobs data looked promising, wide-ranging revisions in the last few months have shown the number of new jobs may be way off. After all, another federal government measure showing the total number of unemployed people, as well as those marginally attached to the labor force, has been steadily increasing to 8.2%—up 0.9% in just a year.

NOTABLE NEWS

The CFO’s office is still experiencing a lot of turnover, but the hiring rate has slowed slightly compared to last year. According to new data from leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates exclusively shared with Forbes, 4.9% of global companies appointed a new CFO in the first quarter of 2026—down from the record 5.2% in Q1last year. There’s still a lot more turnover than usual—RRA notes the seven-year average for Q1 is 4.4%. And the S&P 500 is still seeing near-record turnover, with 6.6% of companies getting a new CFO in the last quarter.

Three in five CFO departures during Q1 were either for retirement or to move to the board—more than the seven-year average of 39% retiring in the quarter. RRA gives two reasons for the increase: Strong capital markets and increasing complexity. Seasoned CFOs are choosing this moment to go out on top—rather than reinventing themselves amid new challenges in the economy, geopolitics and technology.

But for the 40% of departing CFOs staying in the workforce, they may have an easier time finding a new job. Globally, 42% of CFO hires in Q1 had prior public company CFO experience—an important differentiator in today’s uncertain world. And nearly half of all new CFOs—47%—were external hires, which is a Q1 high. RRA writes that this may be because companies are being caught off guard by high turnover rates, but it may also be to benchmark internal candidates.

POLICY + REGULATIONS

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule that would end quarterly reporting, and only require two public financial reports a year. President Trump has long pushed this kind of policy, saying minimizing reports would “allow managers to focus on properly running their companies,” and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the “rigidity” of quarterly reporting keeps businesses from deciding what reporting cadence is best for them.

As of Tuesday morning, the proposal has received fewer than 100 comments. A sampling so far shows little support for the proposal: quarterly reporting provides more information to investors—as well as competitors—and, with technology, the work to put it together is minimal. Forbes contributor Shivaram Rajgopal writes the U.K. made a similar move and found little change: The vast majority of companies voluntarily continued quarterly reports.

OFF THE LEDGERNovo Nordisk CFO On The Company’s Turnaround Strategy

Novo Nordisk executive vice president and CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen.

Novo Nordisk

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk became a household name about five years ago when Ozempic became a weight-loss sensation. Novo Nordisk launched another version for weight management, Wegovy, but stiff competition, costs, supply issues and disappointing trial results for new drugs led to falling shares and lower sales.

Novo Nordisk has started ramping up a turnaround with a pill form of Wegovy launched in the U.S. in January, and other drugs in the pipeline. The company reported a 32% increase in sales last week in its quarterly earnings. I spoke with Executive Vice President and CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen about Novo Nordisk’s strategy and the pharmaceutical industry. This conversation has been edited for length, clarity and continuity.

What is it like to be at a pharmaceutical company that has a very broad portfolio, but has just a couple of products that determine your success?

Knudsen: In the pharmaceutical industry, there’s a core question around replacement power. We spend a significant amount of resources on taking risks in R&D over many, many years. In return, we get patent protection for our innovation—should they be competitive and solve an unmet need. That patent protection runs out after 10 years. And then we need the replacement power to come up with new innovation.

That’s the cycle and the contract between the industry and society. Innovation is a lot of hard work, but sometimes you hit it better than other times. We hit it really nicely with the GLP-1 technology and semaglutide. It puts much more resources in our system to invest more for the future, which is what we’re doing.

We have more than tripled R&D over the last five years, but at the same time, the pressure’s on when patents start to lapse and we need to have new products come to fruition and take over. My job as a CFO is different compared to a lot of industrial companies. One thing is to run the short and medium term like any other industrial CFO, [dividing resources] between allocating to commercial manufacturing and lifecycle management on the products.

But we spend something like 15% to 20% of our top line on R&D and early investments: what we call preclinical, before we test the products in humans. Before getting into the first human dose, the probability of success is 1% or less that a project will get to the markets. We work a lot with our core competencies, and what risks are we taking in what areas based on what merits, and how do we stagescape those risks so we don’t put all eggs in one basket?

Novo Nordisk reached great highs at the beginning of the GLP-1 boom, and has been working on a turnaround to regain some lost ground. Tell me about your strategy.

The strategy for the comeback is: Become even sharper on commercial execution. The pill uptake in the U.S. is one good example. We just went all in and put our best people on it and used all the right tactics. Commercial execution is a top priority combined with R&D—and focusing R&D on the core areas for the company. If you’re brutal, you would say what makes or breaks the company is whether we succeed in innovation.

We have a lot of new people on board. The management team is almost brand new, the layers below the team are new, and the board is rather new also. A lot of new people with a lot of drive and energy are also tweaking the culture of the company to a new setting. It’s not like everything was wrong in the old days, but a company travels through different landscapes and environments. Now we’re in a period where fighting commercially and upgrading R&D are key, and we have to adjust the company accordingly.

Consumerization [is] also a key topic. If you just go two years back, we really didn’t have any meaningful consumer play in the company. Now, more than half of Wegovy sales in the U.S. is in the cash channel through telehealth partners or our own platform. As a CFO, I need to understand what ROI is in a more consumerized setting, how to work with price elasticity and the like. We didn’t used to have that much in classic pharma. It’s completely normal in FMCG-type companies, but in pharma, it’s a re-skilling of a number of capabilities.

What advice would you give to other CFOs?

Maintain your compass. I’ve been through a very volatile period at Novo with a lot of pace and ups and downs. Focus on stewardship toward value generation on behalf of shareholders—on behalf of the owners of the company. Accepting what environments a company is operating in during a certain period of time, and then being rational around the choices that are necessary through different periods of the company. The foundation for all of it is integrity and having your house in order.COMINGS + GOINGSMedical technology firm BD promoted Vitor Roque to be its executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective May 7. Roque joined the company more than 25 years ago, and had most recently been working as the interim chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and corporate financial planning and analysis.Logistics and automotive transportation company RPM appointed Joe Bojaj as its new chief financial officer. Bojaj joins the executive team with a background in financial leadership for high-growth organizations.Clean energy and fertilizer producer CF Industries selected Andrew T. Scribner for its executive vice president and chief financial officer role, effective May 26. Scribner most recently worked as vice president, global controller and head of corporate finance planning and analysis at Kimberly-Clark Corporation.STRATEGIES + ADVICE

It is a tough time to be in business, but if your AI systems are delivering value and ROI, you shouldn’t immediately be looking to make job cuts to add to your profitability. Instead, you should work with everything you have—both people and technology—to try to make those AI gains greater.

There are business lessons to be learned everywhere, even at the movies. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a story about a business in transition, and even if you’re not in the publishing business, the characters and plot inspire discussions between executives and boards about value creation, succession and planning.

QUIZ

President Donald Trump said he wants to sign executive orders to try to reduce the price of which commodity?

A. Soybeans

B. Beef

C. Aluminum

D. Coffee

See if you got the right answer here.