According to a report, Kohl has retained its newly hired director general after an investigation showed that he had concluded a “very unusual” trade agreement with a woman who had been his romantic partner.
Ashley Buchanan – Hired only four months ago – ordered Kohl to “engage in supplier transactions that involved unknown conflicts of interest”, the company announced on Thursday.
More specifically, conflicts involved Buchanan’s relationship with Chandra Holt, a former colleague from Walmart, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Buchanan ordered the company to do business with a seller founded by an individual to whom he had links, according to a Thursday titles file which did not disclose the name of the seller.
The seller, who, according to the newspaper, was Holt, signed a several million dollars council agreement with Kohl with unusually favorable conditions, according to the file.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Holt is founder and CEO of Incredibrew, a coffee brand.
Buchanan and Holt climbed the Walmart ladder before leaving about the same time for other positions in Texas -based retailers. Buchanan left at the beginning of 2020 to become CEO of Michaels. Holt left in 2021 to become CEO of HomePlus de Conn.
Holt in 2023 became CEO of Beyond Inc. – The company which owns Overstock.com and Bed Bath & Beyond – where it managed the company for a year.
Michael Bender, member of the board of directors of Kohl, as an interim CEO with immediate effect.
Bender has been director since July 2019 and was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors in May 2024.
Kohl shares are up almost 6% to $ 7.09 on news.
The Kohl audit committee supervised an investigation which revealed that Buchanan had not disclosed relations with the suppliers, deemed inappropriate and for which he was dismissed.
Buchanan will lose all the stock prices he has received from the company and should reimburse the KOHL on a professional basis for a signature scholarship worth $ 2.5 million, according to securities documents.
Kohl said Buchanan’s termination had no impact on the company’s financial performance, the company published preliminary financial results for the first quarter showing that comparable sales will be down between 4% and 4.3%.
The head -to -budget department store based in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, has had three CEOs in the past three years while it is fighting down sales down.
Buchanan followed Tom Kingsubury, who lasted less than two years of work after succeeding Michelle Gass, who left Kohl for Levi’s.
