London, Oct 02 : Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco said that CEO Dave Lewis will step down next year, and will be replaced by Walgreens Boots Alliance executive Ken Murphy.
Lewis, who has overseen a radical overhaul of Tesco since his appointment in 2014, added that the group’s turnaround was “complete” and he desired to move onto new challenges. “My decision to step down as group CEO is a personal one,” he said in a group statement issued alongside first-half earnings. “I believe that the tenure of the CEO should be a finite one and that now is the right time to pass the baton. “Our turnaround is complete, we have delivered all the metrics we set for ourselves. The leadership team is very strong, our strategy is clear and it is delivering.”
Former Unilever director Lewis was parachuted into Tesco in July 2014 to help turn around the group.
More than 10,000 jobs have been cut in a far-ranging cost-cutting drive at Tesco, since Lewis took charge with the brief to save 1.5 billion pounds.
He took the reins just as the group was rocked by crisis in October 2014 after overstating profits in an accounting error.
