Walgreens WBA 2.86%
Boots Alliance Inc. has named Starbucks Corp. operating head Rose Brewer as its next chief executive, the only black woman to lead today’s Fortune 500 company, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ms. Brewer will replace Stefano Pesina, who said in July that he would step down as CEO after the pharmaceutical company found a new leader. One of Walgreens’ largest individual investors, Mr. Pesina said he was planning to remain on the company’s board and serve as executive chairman.
Walgren’s stock, which has a market value of about $ 43 billion, rose 7.4% hours after The Wall Street Journal reported the move.
Starbucks said on Tuesday that Ms. Brewer was leaving for a new role at another public company in late February. Prior to joining the coffeehouse chain, Ms. Brewer was CEO of Walmart Of ink
Sam’s club division for five years.
Ms. Brewer, 58, has been a major and board member at Starbucks since 2017. He helped Starbucks focus on operating the Go-Two during the epidemic and diversified the company’s leadership. Starbucks last fall said it would force executive compensation and mandatory antibody training for company leaders to increase minority representation in its workforce.
In 2019, Ms. Brewer joined the board of Amazon.com Inc.
Pressure on the company to add more diversity to its board. Amazon is expanding rapidly in the healthcare field, becoming a competitor to companies such as Walgren and CVS. In 2018, Amazon purchased the online pharmacy Pilpack for $ 1 billion.
Stefano Pesina in March 2019 in Dearfield, Il.
Photo:
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Walgreens, the largest US drugstore chain, is struggling to turn itself around, a complex attempt by the coronovirus epidemic. Mr., an Italian billionaire. Pesina took over five years ago after the merger of Walgren and European pharmacy chain Alliance Boots.
Where rival CVS Health Corp.
Through a 2006 acquisition of pharmacy benefit manager Caremark, a health care alchemist was created and insurance company Aetna Inc., Walgreens pulled away from all acquisitions after unsuccessful attempts to buy insurer Humana. Inc.
And pharmacy rival Rite Aid Corp.
Walgreens recently announced plans to sell its wholesale pharmacy business in Europe, focusing its attention on the US nemec chain and the boot pharmacy chain in the UK.
The dwindling store traffic amid the coronovirus epidemic is exacerbating Valgans’ retail struggle, and the company’s efforts to transform itself as a provider of health care services have yet to catch up. The company hopes to play a central role for the Kovid-19 vaccine for the American public. With CVS, Valgrens worked with the federal government to administer doses at the nation’s long-term care facilities.
In its latest quarter, the pharmacy chain’s profit also declined by 25% in total revenue and the company worked to cut costs. Retail pharmacy sales in the US grew 1.6%, lower than expected, and officials said prescription volumes were weaker than planned.
Last year, Wolgren was one of the worst-performing members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with shares losing 29.4%. The index rose 7.3% in 2020.
The first African-American and first woman to head a Walmart business unit, Ms. Brewer joined Kimberly-Clark in 2006 after two decades in the retail sector. Corp.
, Where he started as a chemist. She graduates from Spelman College, where she chairs the Board of Trustees.
Fortune 500 has four black CEOs: Kenneth Frazier of pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co.,
Marvin Ellison of the hardware store chain Lowes Cos.,
Roger Ferguson Jr. of TIAA, a financial services firm, and Renee Jones, who runs M&T Bank Corp.
in New York.
The number of women running Fortune 500 companies reached a high of 37 last year and have been hiring since then.
Write Dana Mattioli at [email protected] and Cara Lombardo at [email protected]
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