{"id":339223,"date":"2025-12-11T23:47:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339223\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T23:47:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:47:08","slug":"lululemon-ceo-to-step-down-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/339223\/","title":{"rendered":"Lululemon CEO to step down in January"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald has led the Vancouver-based athleisure retailer since 2018.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU-Q<\/a> chief executive officer Calvin McDonald will step down at the end of January, the athleisure brand announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Mr. McDonald, who has led the Vancouver-based retailer since 2018, has been struggling to reassure investors as customers have tired of the brand and the stock price plunged by 50 per cent since the beginning of the year. <\/p>\n

Lululemon has hired an executive search firm and is looking for its next CEO. Mr. McDonald will leave the role on Jan. 31, 2026, and will also step away from the company\u2019s board of directors, but will continue as a senior adviser through March 31.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s chief financial officer Meghan Frank and chief commercial officer Andr\u00e9 Maestrini will serve as co-CEOs on an interim basis until the search process is complete.<\/p>\n

Under Mr. McDonald\u2019s leadership, Lululemon\u2019s annual revenues have more than tripled. Sales are estimated to reach $11-billion this year. He has also brought the brand to new global markets, and expanded the product offerings to include clothing for tennis and golf, as well as casual everyday wear.<\/p>\n

But although Lululemon was once dominant in the athleisure space, the brand\u2019s cachet has recently slipped, and competitors such as Alo Yoga and Vuori have been winning away customers with newer designs. <\/p>\n

The company\u2019s stock price has fallen by more than 50 per cent so far this year.<\/p>\n

Lululemon became synonymous with taking leggings and other stretchy clothing beyond the gym and the yoga studio, with trendy women sporting athleisure throughout the day. The company did particularly well during the pandemic when comfortable leggings and sweatshirts were in high demand. <\/p>\n

But the company began to see a slowdown in the key U.S. market last year.<\/p>\n

In September, Mr. McDonald acknowledged the retailer\u2019s offerings had \u201cbecome too predictable\u201d and noted some \u201cfatigue\u201d among its most loyal customers as it kept certain styles around too long. That made the brand vulnerable to being usurped by trendy rivals. <\/p>\n

Lululemon\u2019s outspoken founder Chip Wilson \u2013 who has not sat on the company\u2019s board since 2015 but remains a major shareholder \u2013 took out a full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal last month criticizing the performance and slamming \u201cfinance focused CEOs\u201d who do not understand product. <\/p>\n

There were also departures of high-profile executives: Last month, the company announced that Celeste Burgoyne, president of the Americas and Global Guest Innovation, had decided to leave in December for another opportunity. Last year, chief product officer Sun Choe left to join footwear company Vans as global brand president.<\/p>\n

Compounding those problems is a choppy economic environment that has made premium $100 leggings a tougher sell for some customers who are being more cautious with their purchases. <\/p>\n

Lululemon is at work to improve the \u201cfrequency and breadth\u201d of new styles, Ms. Frank said on a conference call on Thursday afternoon, and is on track to have new product represent 35 per cent of the assortment by next spring. The product currently in stores is \u201cnot representative\u201d of where the brand\u2019s styles are going, she said.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the company reported that its third-quarter revenue grew by 7 per cent compared to the prior year, to US$2.6-billion. The results were driven by a 33-per-cent increase in international sales, while revenue in the Americas fell by 2 per cent in the quarter, which ended on Nov. 2.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s net income fell to US$306.8-million or US$2.59 per share in the quarter, compared to US$351.9-million or US$2.87 per share in the same period last year. <\/p>\n

On Thursday\u2019s call, Mr. McDonald said that being CEO of Lululemon was his \u201cdream job,\u201d and added that he would fully support the transition to new leadership. <\/p>\n

The company will look for a new CEO \u201cwith a track record of driving companies through periods of growth and transformation, Lululemon Board Chair Marti Morfitt wrote in Thursday\u2019s release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald has led the Vancouver-based athleisure retailer since 2018.DARRYL DYCK\/The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-339223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}