U.S. Steel's Mario Longhi to Retire on June 30 -- Update

United States Steel Corp.'s chief executive, who drove an aggressive cost-cutting push as the firm sought to stem years of losses, is retiring next month.

Mr. Longhi will remain on the board and help with the transition through June 30, the company said Wednesday. Mr. Longhi has been CEO since 2013.

The 62-year-old, a leading advocate for tough U.S. trade policies, was appointed in January to President Donald Trump's Manufacturing Jobs Initiative, an advisory group of business and labor leaders.

David B. Burritt, 61 years old, has been promoted to CEO, joining the company's board. Mr. Burritt, a Caterpillar Inc. veteran, joined U.S. Steel in 2013 and most recently served as president and chief operating officer.

In April, the company reported a surprise quarterly loss and said an overhaul of old mills would shave off more than half of its profit target this year. The plan would take about three years and cost about $1 billion, company officials estimated.

The Pittsburgh-based company has reported losses in seven of the last eight years, including the most recent year.

"We needed to get our assets up to a better condition," Mr. Longhi said at the time, adding that this would be a year of investment.

Mr. Longhi joined U.S. Steel in 2012 as executive vice president and chief operating officer and was promoted to president and CEO the following year. In his tenure at U.S. Steel, Mr. Longhi was among U.S. steelmakers calling for intervention to assess duties on foreign-made products they say benefited from unfair government subsidies or were sold below cost in the domestic market.

"When I came to the company, I envisioned a five-year tenure, which I have completed," Mr. Longhi said in a prepared statement.

Shares, which had set a 52-week high in February but are down more than one-third this year following the disappointing first-quarter performance, gained 1% to $21.17 in after-hours trading.

Bob Tita contributed to this article

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2017 17:35 ET (21:35 GMT)