Kroger CEO canceled after the investigation of “personal behavior”

Cincinnati (WXIX) – Kroger chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullens “according to an investigation of his personal behavior, which does not have to do with business, did not match Kroger's guidelines for business ethics in the event of an economy,” the company said on Monday.

“On February 21, the board was made aware of certain personal behaviors by Mr. McMullen and immediately kept outside the independent lawyer to carry out an investigation that was supervised by a special committee. The behavior of Mr. McMullen is not related to the financial performance, operations or reporting of the company and did not include any Kroger employees, ”says the press release.

The corporate headquarters of the grocery giant is located in a high -rise in downtown Cincinnati.

The senior director Ronald “Ron” Sargent became the chairman of the board of directors and interim executive officer, who was immediately effective, in a press release with effect.

The Board of Directors of Kroger formed a search committee and committed a nationally recognized company to carry out a search for Kroger's next CEO. According to Kroger, Sargent has agreed to serve in his role until this person was appointed.

He has been the company manager since 2006 and since 2017 director of Kroger, as he served as a press release in 2017.

Mark Sutton will work as a leading independent director of Kroger, and will also be effective immediately.

The company expects an identical turnover with the full year without fuel at the top of its guideline area and the entire year per share.

Kroger said it would indicate the results of the fourth quarter of 2024 and the year 2025 in the fourth quarter of 2024 profit conference on Thursday at 10:00 a.m.

In a statement on Monday, Sargent said that he was “obliged to work with our proven and experienced management team and committed employees to ensure that Kroger continues to offer an extraordinary value for our customers.

“Kroger was a special place throughout my retail career after spending Summers in college in shops and my first ten years after the business school in the company headquarters in the company headquarters before recently acting as a senior independent director,” he said in the press release.

“My decades here gave me a full appreciation for what makes Kroger unique, and I look forward to working more closely with this talented team. I plan to be a steady but active hand in the execution of our strategy. “

He spent the first ten years of his professional career at Kroger and worked in several roles in shops, sales, marketing, manufacturing and strategy.

Sargent is an experienced retail operator and director of 35 years of experience, including as chairman and CEO of Staples, Inc. from 2002 to 2016 after he joined the company in 1989, as Krogers press release.

He is currently a member of the board of Wells Fargo & Company, where he is the chairman of the personnel committee and in connection with his new role on the board of Five Under.

“Over the years, Ron has played an important role in the development and approval of Kroger's strategy that led us to the position of strength in which we are today,” said Sutton in the press release.

“Kroger will continue to deliver for our customers, invest in our employees, strengthen our communities and reward our shareholders under Ron's leadership.”

Last year there was a proposed merger between Kroger and another supermarket giant Albertson, who was supposed to help them compete better with competitors such as Costco and Walmart, and would have been the greatest supermarket merger in the history of US history after they had been questioned by the Federal Trade Commission and several prosecutors.

Kroger said that the FTC, which blocks the merger, “exactly the people that the FTC pretends to serve: America's consumers and workers.”

The following day, Albertsons announced that they would sue Kroger due to billions of dollars – legal disputes that Kroger says was “unfounded and without earnings”.

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