NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Coca-Cola Co. President and Chief Operating Officer Steven Heyer is leaving the company, a month after he lost the competition for the company's top job.

Steven Heyer

The world's largest soft drink maker said Wednesday that Heyer would leave the company "by mutual agreement" after what it said would be "an orderly transition period."

Coke (KO: Research, Estimates) named retired executive Neville Isdell, a 60-year-old former company insider, as its chairman and chief executive-elect May 4, ending a three-month search. He will succeed Douglas Daft, who plans to retire this summer.

At the time Daft's retirement plans were announced in February, Heyer was seen as the leading candidate to succeed him. But published reports suggest that members of the Coca-Cola board were uncomfortable turning the company over to someone who had only been with Coke for three years. Heyer, a former executive of Turner Broadcasting, joined Coke in April 2001 and was named president and COO in December 2002.

"In discussions over the past week, Steve and I have looked at how he could best realize his personal goals given my election as chairman and chief executive officer of this company," said a statement from Isdell. "We agreed that Steve could best realize his aspirations by pursuing opportunities outside of the company."

The company has been dogged by a falling stock price, the effects of a global economic slowdown, marketing miscues and, most recently, U.S. government investigations into its business practices during much of Daft's, and Heyer's, tenures.

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"I have enjoyed my tenure at the Coca-Cola Co. and am proud of what we have been able to accomplish," said a statement from Heyer released by the company. "I believe that the Coca-Cola Co. today is on a well-conceived strategic course and is hitting its stride both financially and operationally."

Shares of Coke (KO: Research, Estimates), a component of the Dow Jones industrial average, lost 10 cents to $52.61 in trading Tuesday.  

-- Reuters contributed to this report