Novo Nordisk ($NVO) COO Kåre Schultz has long been considered the heir apparent to CEO Rebien Sørensen, whenever he retires. And so it came as a bit of a shock when the company unceremoniously disclosed his departure Thursday with a single line at the bottom of its quarterly financial release. "The board," Sørensen told analysts, "decided it wanted to have greater visibility on our corporate launches in key markets. As a consequence, the COO job disappeared." Story