Rosalind Brewer Steps Down as Walgreens Chief After a Short Tenure

Why It Matters: A messy pivot from pharmacy to well being companies.

Walgreens has been shifting away from pharmacy and retail to focus extra on well being care companies, with combined outcomes. The firm’s shares sank additional on Friday, dropping to close a 14-year low. The firm stated its revenue this 12 months could be “at or near the low end” of its forecasts.

“The group, which previously grew through various pharmacy acquisitions, is now looking to consolidate and focus its efforts on the U.S. health care sector,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, stated in an e-mail. “While the wisdom of this move is debatable, health care is not Ms. Brewer’s forte.”

Before becoming a member of Walgreens, Ms. Brewer was the chief working officer of Starbucks and beforehand served as chief government of Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart.

In addition to opening extra docs’ places of work inside Walgreens shops, she oversaw the difficult rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine at pharmacies and enforcement of pandemic security requirements inside shops.

In an announcement, Ms. Brewer stated that she was pleased with what she had achieved and that the corporate was “on track to be a leading consumer-centric health care company.”

Quotable: ‘The worst time’ for an government departure.

Ms. Brewer’s exit was introduced slightly over a month after the corporate’s chief monetary officer, James Kehoe, left to grow to be a finance chief on the expertise agency FIS.

As Walgreens leans extra into the well being care enterprise, it faces a number of hurdles, business specialists stated. In a notice to purchasers, Deutsche Bank’s analysts stated the challenges included managing difficult pharmacy reimbursements, remodeling its enterprise mannequin to concentrate on main care and coping with opioid legal responsibility points.

“The departure of the two key executives comes at possibly the worst time,” the Deutsche Bank analysts wrote. “We cannot recall a time in our coverage experience where we have seen both the C.E.O. and the C.F.O. depart a large-cap company in such a short span where there were not other issues at the company.”

What’s Next: The seek for a everlasting successor.

Walgreens stated a seek for a everlasting chief was underway.

Stefano Pessina, the corporate’s government chairman, stated in an announcement that Ms. Graham was the “ideal person to serve as interim C.E.O.” Ms. Graham was beforehand chief government of Amylin Pharmaceuticals and chairman of Guidant. She began her profession at Eli Lilly.

It is uncommon for a girl to switch one other feminine chief government. This 12 months, gender range has fallen throughout the prime ranks of retail corporations. Of the 86 retail corporations within the Fortune 1000, 13 had a girl as chief government as of July, down barely from the 12 months earlier than, in response to Heidrick & Struggles, an government recruiting agency.

Among the Fortune 500, there are 50 feminine chief government officers, in response to knowledge from Catalyst, which works with a whole bunch of corporations to advance the careers of ladies.

Ms. Brewer’s departure leaves only one Black lady working a Fortune 500 firm: Thasunda Duckett at TIAA, the funding agency.