Waste Management Shares Plunge 20%

Waste Management Inc. shares fell 20% after the sudden departure of its new chief executive as the company said it will have lower earnings amid an accounting revamp. Chairman and Chief Executive Ronald LeMay, 51, said this week he would rejoin Sprint Corp. as president and chief operating officer, after only three months at the Oak Brook, Ill.-based trash-hauling company. Robert Miller, a board member who was named acting chairman and CEO, moved to reassure investors that the company has no undisclosed problems. He said, however, it will switch to more conservative accounting principles that will lower earnings and will take an unspecified fourth-quarter charge as the company reviews the value of assets. Waste Management shares fell $5.75 to close at $23.25 on the New York Stock Exchange.