Hershey shakes up its board of directors

Hershey Co. (NYSE: HSY) is kissin' eight directors goodbye and saying hello to their replacements. The Hershey Trust requested that six of them resign, and another two left of their own volition following the sudden departure of CEO Richard Lenny.

The company's stock has been languishing for years and the chairman of the Hershey Trust board said that the trust "has not been satisfied with company's recent results."

According to The New York Times, "The trust controls 79 percent of the company's voting shares and favored a sale of the company in 2002, when the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company offered $12.5 billion to buy it out. But the trust ultimately rejected the bids amid fierce local opposition, including from Pennsylvania's attorney general, Mike Fisher. Hershey's market value is now about $9.3 billion."

Stiff competition from rivals with lower costs has hurt the company, but the shake-up could give the stock some energy. Change is nearly always welcome at a company that's been performing as poorly as Hershey has. Former CEO Kenneth Wolfe will return to the company as non-executive chairman, and be joined by new directors Charles A. Davis, Edward J. Kelly III, Arnold G. Langbo, James E. Nevels, Tom Ridge, Charles B. Strauss and Leroy Zimmerman.

Shares of Hershey are down about 20% for the year, though up 36 cents today as of 12:15 pm.