Hudson’s Bay Chairman Adds CEO Role as Retailer Goes Private

(Bloomberg) -- Hudson's Bay Chief Executive Officer Helena Foulkes will be replaced by Chairman Richard Baker following the completion of the retailer's go-private deal.

Baker will retain his roles as executive chairman and governor, according to a statement by the company. The company's business units, including Saks Fifth Avenue, have been given more responsibility and autonomy in recent years, turning Hudson's Bay into a holding company of sorts where the CEO role has less direct authority, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The departure of Foulkes, who came on two years ago in a bid to reverse sagging sales, was reported earlier by Dow Jones.

Foulkes, a veteran of CVS Health Corp., presided over the sale of Lord & Taylor, the company's European operations and flash-sale e-commerce company Gilt. Efforts to turn the struggling retailer around, including stores closures and an inventory revamp at the eponymous Hudson's Bay chain in Canada, were slow to show results at a time of falling traffic at department stores.

In June 2019, Baker and a group of allies offered to take the retailer private. After an eight-month fight that pushed him to raise the price twice, the deal was approved on Feb. 27.

--With assistance from Tereza Elisabeth Pusca and Jonathan Roeder.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sandrine Rastello in Montreal at srastello@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Cronin at acronin14@bloomberg.net

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