See you then Sergio Bucher.
Everyone knew that the hapless Debenhams CEO was on his way out. Still, it was pretty cynical of the retailer to leave it until 3pm on the day before the extended Easter weekend to confirm the widely trailed departure.
“Now that our new financing facilities are in place, it is time to move on, knowing the company is in good hands with a plan that will deliver a sustainable future,” said the former Amazoner who must wish he’d never left the internet giant.
Sure, being the ultimate boss holds a powerful pull even for executives with fancy jobs at prestigious companies. But Debenhams was on a sticky wicket when he joined and the warning signs should have been obvious enough to him.
Turning the business around was always going to be a tough ask, one made all the more difficult by the requirement to fend off Sports Direct kingpin Mike Ashley, who ultimately got Bucher booted off the board for his trouble.
But we’re always being told people like him are rare talents with the ability to fly, run around the world at six million miles an hour, shoot lasers from their eyes and turn retailing sows ears and into silk purses while they’re at it. That’s why they need such fancy salary and bonus packages.
Bucher singularly failed to live up to the hype in almost every respect bar one: keeping Ashley at bay.
There are still plenty who will thank him for that but it's probably not enough to save his retailing rep, at least in this country.
Debehams said that a search is now underway for his successor, to which the obvious reaction is to say, “good luck with that”.
Having been through an administration process, the retailer is now owned by its lenders. In the short term it still needs restructuring. That inevitably means store closures and job losses. In the longer term, they’ll want to sell it to someone. Lenders are in the business of lending to businesses, not owning them.
For that to happen, however, they need to unearth someone who can formulate a successful strategy and create a sustainably profitable business out of the chain at a time when many feel the concept of the department store is doomed. And Ashley, spitting tacks over the losses he's made through investing in the business, is still around.
Finding such a unicorn will be the priority for chairman Terry Duddy, an experienced retailer who has the unenviable task of running the business in the interim.
He has has work cut out for him.
