Well, that was quick.
Ralph Lauren has announced that Stefan Larsson, the superstar CEO appointed to revive the struggling lifestyle brand little more than a year ago, would leave the company in May, citing clashes with founder and chairman Ralph Lauren on how to jump-start the business.
It would be an understatement to say this doesn't bode well for the 50-year-old label. A "Stefan Larsson bump" had reinvigorated the company in the past year, as he moved quickly to fire employees, close stores, and refashion the dated brand into a modern, fast-moving company that better catered to today's shoppers. No longer.
To be clear, this isn't a case of the new CEO not being able to perform. Under Larsson's leadership, Ralph Lauren developed a smart turnaround plan and executed well against it.
The stock fell more than 11 per cent on Thursday partly because investors felt misled by Lauren, the founder, who had persuaded them in June that he was ready to at least partly turn over the reins of his company to Larsson. Investors, and many new executives, came to Ralph Lauren because of Larsson's track record of running successful operations.
The corporate world is littered with examples of executives who just weren't ready to let go. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, for instance, said in December he would step down as CEO for the second time in the company's history. He admitted that, the first time he tried to relinquish control, he wasn't "emotionally prepared" to do so.
Ralph Lauren's explanation that its founder couldn't see eye-to-eye with his successor raises doubts about whether he will ever step aside and let someone else run the business. That includes not just supply chain and operations, but the emotional side of the business, such as design and style, that truly defines the brand's DNA.
Of course, things turned out well for Starbucks investors when Schultz returned and jolted the coffee chain back to outsize sales gains and profitability. The difference is that Schultz stepped away while the company was going strong, only to see it falter in his absence.
In contrast, Lauren was proudly at the helm as his company floundered. He oversaw the denigration of his storied brand through rampant discounting, sales at off-price stores such as T.J. Maxx and the over-building of its own stores.
Still, Lauren has always been one of American retail's greatest success stories. And investors may eventually find that Larsson woke Lauren up to the changes required to save his company. I'm just not convinced it's worth sticking around to find out.
Bloomberg