Speculation increases over Angela Ahrendts's start date as head of Apple Retail
With the exact date that incoming Apple retail chief Angela Ahrendts will leave her position at Burberry still unannounced, some have speculated that the fashion executive may be delaying her departure in order to collect on Burberry share bonuses worth as much as ?8 million.
Angela Ahrendts will become Apple's SVP of Retail and Online Stores sometime in 2014. | Source: The Times UK
April marks the end of the six month period Ahrendts is contractually obligated to serve after her resignation in order to transition the business to her successor, but The Guardian believes that she may not actually leave for Cupertino until June, when she is due two separate multimillion-pound bonuses. Some have also said that she may be attempting to negotiate a deal between the two companies that would allow her to leave as soon as May while still collecting some or all of the bonuses.
"It's a big sum of money. In some ways it would be good to see the business moving on after six months of handover time. You want to see clarity," Neev Capital analyst Rahul Sharma told the publication.
Another factor affecting Ahrendts's departure may be the dubious regard in which creative executive Christopher Bailey, who has been tapped to succeed Ahrendts as head of the fashion house, is held by stockholders. Many are thought to believe that he is not yet ready to balance both roles and may need more time under Ahrendts's tutelage.
When announcing her hire, Apple said only that Ahrendts would join the iPhone maker "in the spring," which is widely regarded as ending in May. A June start date would push the time that Apple's retail stores went without a senior-level leader to more than a year and a half after former retail chief John Browett was fired in 2012.
When she does come on board, Ahrendts will take over a larger swath of the company than Browett or inaugural Apple retail executive Ron Johnson. She will oversee both the brick-and-mortar and online retail operations, the first time both channels have reported to the same executive.
Angela Ahrendts will become Apple's SVP of Retail and Online Stores sometime in 2014. | Source: The Times UK
April marks the end of the six month period Ahrendts is contractually obligated to serve after her resignation in order to transition the business to her successor, but The Guardian believes that she may not actually leave for Cupertino until June, when she is due two separate multimillion-pound bonuses. Some have also said that she may be attempting to negotiate a deal between the two companies that would allow her to leave as soon as May while still collecting some or all of the bonuses.
"It's a big sum of money. In some ways it would be good to see the business moving on after six months of handover time. You want to see clarity," Neev Capital analyst Rahul Sharma told the publication.
Another factor affecting Ahrendts's departure may be the dubious regard in which creative executive Christopher Bailey, who has been tapped to succeed Ahrendts as head of the fashion house, is held by stockholders. Many are thought to believe that he is not yet ready to balance both roles and may need more time under Ahrendts's tutelage.
When announcing her hire, Apple said only that Ahrendts would join the iPhone maker "in the spring," which is widely regarded as ending in May. A June start date would push the time that Apple's retail stores went without a senior-level leader to more than a year and a half after former retail chief John Browett was fired in 2012.
When she does come on board, Ahrendts will take over a larger swath of the company than Browett or inaugural Apple retail executive Ron Johnson. She will oversee both the brick-and-mortar and online retail operations, the first time both channels have reported to the same executive.
Comments
I think a Senior VP position at Apple is equivalent to a CEO position at any other company.
I stand by my theory. Apple hasn't been hiring any other world-class CEOs recently.
Apple has hired several CEOs from other companies. There could be multiple people in position to succeed Tim Cook "when he ready to retire"..
It's been 6 months already since the announcement came out. It's not a healthy situation for Apple to have this linger for so long. It's time for her to jump in and start
Agreed. I hope/assume she'll really hit the ground running when she finally starts.
It's a very unusual move to bring in a CEO for this kind of senior-level position, unless she is seen as a logical successor to Tim when he is ready to retire. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
Apple's been tapping the CEO ranks of the business world to fill VP positions. So this doesn't necessarily imply they are interested in her as a successor, but rather are interested in acquiring CEO-level talent to run a part of apple's business with revenues larger than many S&P 500 companies.
We're going to assume she understands retail. I'd say she was offered the job and couldn't resist. It's pretty much the most exciting retail job on earth right now and she knows that I'm sure. And she'll probably end up making more money at Apple too.
And from Apple's standpoint I'd bet their looking to people that have past experience doing a good job managing lots of people. God knows what they were thinking hiring the guy who ran Dixons though.
Which ones have been hired with a pedigree like hers?
I wouldn't say that. She is moving to a much larger company. Lots of CEOs do that. Browlett did. If it were just a vp position, then I would agree with you. We've seen a lot of smaller company CEOs taker lessor positions at Apple over the years.
But at Apple, a senior vp is the highest position under the CEO. It doesn't mean that you aren't right, and that she may be thought of as a possible successor. That would certainly be an interesting choice! She is being given a wide portfolio. I'm pretty psyched up by this.
I also understand why she wants to get those bonus's. If I were in her position, I'd likely do the same thing.
I am sorry, this does not sound right, is she that stupid and short sighted to worry about a bonus when in fact her future and bonuses as Apple could be far larger than the 8M she will get from her current company.
Also any options she get will most likely be based on the start date, today id lowest it has been in a while so getting on board now could mean a larger return in the future.
I don't see another month or so making much of a difference. For all we know, she's been working with Apple on direction already. Both companies seem to have a friendly relationship, even with her leaving. In fact, with her at Apple, and leaving Burberry on good terms, would be good for Burberry as well. She could still prefer using Burberry in her technology work. That's free advertising for them. It pays for everyone to be happy here.
True that. But he's trying.
I agree. She's very highly rated in the retail industry. She's brought Burberry to many more people, and led it to great growth and profits in an otherwise stagnant industry.
I also don't understand why they hired Browlett. But, it certainly taught them things about high level hires! She is the polar opposite of Browlett. And it's nice to finally see a woman in the top ranks of the company.
Tim is improving a bit, but his presentation skills don't concern me as long as he has a great speaker like Craig Federighi to take up the slack.
She's likely a lot smarter than any of us. Big business operates in ways that are different from what you may think. Even with my own, much smaller, companies, I've hired people who needed to wait for a bonus. It happens. It isn't the end of the world. You're acting as if this means much. It's only another four to six weeks. Not much.
I wish she had already started so maybe we could see her on stage at WWDC. I keep hearing how she's such a great public speaker. She'd probably be more enjoyable to listen to than Cook.
She's definitely better to look at, at least.