Billionaire Paolo Rocca steps down as Tenaris CEO after 24 years

Argentine-Italian billionaire Paolo Rocca is stepping down from the helm of steel-pipe maker Tenaris SA, but will remain as chairman as Gabriel Podskubka takes the role of chief executive officer. 

Podskubka served as Tenaris’ chief operating officer since 2023, coordinating sales and market, supply chain and production operations, and product and service development, the company said in a statement. He joined Tenaris in Argentina in 1995. 

Rocca has been CEO since 2002, also the year the company went public in Milan. Tenaris’ shares have soared more than 1,000 percent since then, and the company now has a market capitalisation of around US$32 billion. 

Rocca “has been the architect of the continuous growth of the company over the past 25 years, during which he has reinforced the solid industrial values which are the foundation of its success,” Tenaris said in the statement. 

Tenaris is controlled by Argentine holding company Techint, founded by Rocca’s grandfather Agostino Rocca. 

The Rocca family wealth is estimated at US$23.4 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index. 

Rocca is also chairman of steelmaker Ternium.