Barrick's Chairman Under Fire as North American Spin-Off Slips Into 2027

Barrick weighs delaying North American gold IPO to 2027 amid governance storm, despite strong Q2 results and CEO stock purchases.

The clock on Barrick Mining's most ambitious corporate maneuver has just been reset — and the friction isn't coming from the gold market.

The Toronto-based miner is now weighing a delay of its North American gold business initial public offering from late 2026 into 2027, according to media reports. The move lands barely two weeks after CEO Mark Hill assured analysts on August 10 that the separation remained on schedule. It also lands squarely in the middle of a governance storm that has some of the company's largest shareholders publicly calling for Chairman John Thornton's resignation.

A Chairman's Legacy Project Meets Shareholder Resistance

Thornton, the former Goldman Sachs banker who has championed the split into separate North American and global operations, faces an investor base that increasingly questions whether the carve-out creates genuine value or simply serves as a parting legacy play. The tension has transformed what might otherwise be a routine scheduling update into a referendum on leadership.

The operational picture, however, tells a different story. Barrick's second-quarter results, also released August 10, marked the third consecutive strong quarterly showing. Realized gold prices hit $4,417 per ounce, while net income surged 50 percent year over year to $1.22 billion. Adjusted earnings per share climbed an even steeper 74 percent. The company produced 796,000 ounces of gold and 56,000 tonnes of copper during the quarter, while trimming full-year capital expenditure guidance to a range of $3.8 billion to $4.2 billion.

That fundamental strength makes the boardroom drama all the more conspicuous. When operations run this smoothly, strategic disputes at the top become harder to wave away.

The Nevada Deal That Opened the Door

The path to a North American listing was cleared in part by a carefully negotiated settlement with rival Newmont over their joint Nevada Gold Mines venture. The agreement delivered Barrick a $1.95 billion payment and secured Newmont's blessing for the IPO — a prerequisite that was always going to be the easy part. Winning over Barrick's own shareholders has proven to be the harder sell.

The company has been juggling multiple moving pieces simultaneously: installing Josh Bock as CEO of the rest-of-world business, settling the billion-dollar dispute with Newmont, and delivering quarterly numbers that speak for themselves. Under that weight, an IPO timetable slipping by a year reads less like a broken promise and more like an acknowledgment that complex carve-outs rarely run to the calendar.

A CEO Buying While the Chairman Faces Questions

Perhaps the most telling contrast sits in the trading records of the company's two most senior figures. While Thornton fends off calls for his ouster, Hill has been quietly accumulating stock. Over the past twelve months, the CEO has invested roughly $6.9 million net in company shares — including about 130,000 shares at approximately $39.85 in late March and 83,000 shares at around $47.51 in February. These are substantial purchases, not symbolic gestures.

That configuration — an operating chief buying while the boardroom's strategic architect comes under fire — is unusual and worth watching. The buybacks reinforce the message: Barrick repurchased $1.209 billion of its own stock in the second quarter alone and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.175 per share, payable September 15.

Analysts Split on Valuation

Wall Street's reaction to the shifting timeline has been measured. JPMorgan raised its price target from $50 to $52 on August 14, maintaining an "Overweight" rating. A day earlier, Barclays had lifted its target from $39 to $42, albeit with a more cautious "Equal Weight" stance. One screener service went so far as to downgrade the stock from "Buy" to "Hold" — a move that looks like a footnote against the fundamental backdrop.

The spread in analyst opinions underscores how divided the market remains on valuation. Some see further upside; others believe much of the good news is already priced in.

Chart Position Reflects the Uncertainty

The share price closed the week at C$60.78, roughly 9 percent above its 50-day moving average, even after a 7.3 percent pullback over seven trading days. The stock still sits 18 percent below its 52-week high of C$74.00 from late January, though it remains 64 percent above the low struck last September. Annualized volatility of 49 percent captures the dual sources of unease: gold price swings and the unresolved leadership question.

That gap between current levels and the January peak could be read as headroom for positive operational news to close — or as a market that has yet to fully price the governance overhang.

The delayed IPO may ultimately have less to do with market conditions and more to do with the unresolved power struggle inside the company. Whether the buybacks, dividend, and operational discipline can soothe the strategy's critics remains an open question. For now, the market appears to be taking the schedule slip in stride — but the chairman's fate is a variable no spreadsheet can model.