Tapestry fires Victor Luis, who is no longer CEO. In his place, goes the American Jide Zeitlin (ad-interim for now), who has been president of the board since 2014. Tapestry announced, at the same time, the nomination of Susan Kropf, current member of the board, as Lead Independent Director. Zeitlin will continue to conduct the president’s duties and pledges to find a new CEO.
Luis’ goodbye
Luis, head of the group for the last five years, suffered from the lack of performance of the latest financial results: Tapestry’s stock lost half of its value over the last year. Luis became a part of Coach’s team in 2006, and was awarded the group’s CEO position in 2014, which led him to create, via various acquisitions such as Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzmann, a US-based rival to European conglomerates such as Kering, LVMH and Richemont.
Zeitlin’s program
Zeitlin, ex-banker at Goldman Sachs, stated to the Financial Times, that the change of leadership doesn’t signify a change in strategy, but rather an increasing attention towards businesses’ effectiveness. The manager, in fact, didn’t rule out shutting down stores and cutting costs, but stated the group would implement a growth approach. Zeitlin continues by saying that the conglomerate is busy with expanding its China business, even during the worsening of relationships due to the trade war currently going on between the two countries. “We will act swiftly to drive organic and sustainable growth”, reads the official note published by Tapestry, which adds Luis’ words: “I am grateful for the 20,000 people that work for this incredible enterprise. I am also proud to have managed Tapestry’s talented people and can’t wait to follow their future success”.
