Macy’s President announces resignation to join Tractor Supply as a CEO

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Updated on Mar 11, 2020
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  • Macy's President, Hal Lawton, announces resignation to join Tractor Supply as a CEO.
  • Lawton's resignation is effective from Friday while he is expected to join Tractor Supply on Jan 13th.
  • Macy's has not yet announced a potential candidate who is expected to replace Lawton.
  • The American department store had printed worse than expected quarterly performance results.
  • Macy's stock has lost over 50% in the stock market in 2019.

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American department store chain, Macy’s, announced the departure of its president, Hal Lawton, earlier on Thursday. As per the announcement, Lawton’s resignation will be effective by Friday. The store further highlighted that the president has decided to opt for Tractor Supply as a Chief Executive Officer, while citing the reason for Lawton’s resignation.

Hal Lawton Will Join Tractor Supply As A CEO On January 13th

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Lawton will be taking over as the CEO of Tractor Supply following the end of Greg Sandfort’s (current CEO) tenure. He will assume the new role by January 13th. It was also added that Lawton plans on joining the American retail chain’s board as well. Lawton has services Macy’s in his capacity as a president since 2017. The 45-year old professional also has the experience of working for eBay as a senior vice president for the North American region.

Commenting on Lawton’s departure, CEO Jeff Gennette was reported stating that he appreciates the efforts and contributions that the president has made to the department store chain at large. He was particularly thankful for Lawton’s role in optimizing the operational cadence for Macy’s. He extended his gratitude to the president for building an impeccable team of leaders who will continue to make prominent contributions to Macy’s as it heads into the holiday season and beyond.

According to the analysts, however, Lawton’s departure from Macy’s right in the middle of the holiday season may pose a new challenge for the department store. So far, Macy’s has not announced the potential candidate who would be replacing Lawton in the upcoming weeks.

Macy’s Has Been Struggling To Keep Sales Upbeat

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The experts further pointed out that the past two years have presented novel challenges for the U.S department stores. With the majority of the buyers sticking to online shopping or approaching the brands directly, the visits to traditional malls have been facing a sharp decline that translated into killing the sales growth for Macy’s.

Macy’s reported a drop in its same-store sales in the recent quarterly earnings report. The report further highlighted that it was the first time for Macy’s in the past two years that the same-store sales had seen a decline. Owing to the worse than expected quarterly performance results, the full-year profit guidance was also curtailed earlier in November.

The rising challenges continued to keep the American department store chain under pressure in the stock market. Following a high of $31.72 in January, share prices were seen trading as low as $14.30 in August. This marks roughly a 50% drop in Macy’s shares in 2019.

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