Ericsson's main shareholders want a new CEO, Dagens Industri reports

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Two of Swedish telecom group Ericsson's (ERICb.ST) main owners have decided Chief Executive Hans Vestberg needs to step down as soon as a replacement can be found, the business newspaper Dagens Industri reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

Ericsson said earlier on Tuesday it would step up its cost-cutting programme after its results fell short of market expectations. The stock fell more than 5 percent on Tuesday, and has shed more than a quarter of its value so far this year.

Investor (INVEb.ST) and Industrivarden (INDUa.ST), Ericsson's two biggest owners with a combined 37 percent of voting rights in 2015, has decided Vestberg will have to quit as soon as a suitable replacement is found, Dagens Industri said.

"The problem is that it can be difficult to find a suitable successor who would take the job. There are no internal candidates and external candidates may be discouraged by the situation in Ericsson," one source told Dagens Industri.

Vestberg has been chief executive of Ericsson since 2010.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Larry King)