Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — Borders Group Inc., the unprofitable U.S. bookstore chain, said Ron Marshall resigned as chief executive officer and director after about a year on the job.
Marshall will be named CEO of Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., a grocer, the Wall Street Journal reported without saying where it got the information. Michael J. Edwards, who was made chief merchandising officer in September, will act as interim CEO, Borders said in a statement today. The board hired Korn/Ferry International to help find a permanent CEO.
Borders, which last reported an annual profit in 2006, has seen revenue drop for the past three years as consumers spent less on books and non-essential items amid declining home values and rising unemployment. Marshall, seeking to stem those declines, said last month that the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based retailer will start selling digital books this year.
Marshall was named CEO of Borders Jan. 5, 2009. About a week later, the retailer named Richard McGuire, a partner at Pershing Square Capital Management LP, as its chairman. Pershing Square, a hedge fund run by investor William Ackman, is Borders’ largest investor.
I didn’t like the guy, but it’s hard for me to say that Borders Group is where it is because he was CEO — honestly, seems like the decision to give all the eCommerce business to Amazon rather then developing its own eCommerce site may have done more to harm the company (and that was all done years before Mr. Marshall started).
It’s quite possible, that in a few years, people will look back and point to his leadership as the reason Borders survived a possible Chapter 11 restructuring and became viable once more. It’s also possible that he’ll be scapegoated if the company dies, especially since rumors within the company are that Monday, the start of the fiscal year, will bring with it an announcement of bankruptcy … or liquidation.
For me, I’ll always remember him as being indirectly, at least, responsible for the departure of one of the best managers I’ve ever worked for, regardless of industry.
For better or worse, he’s gone, and since he’s been the symbol and focal point of everything that’s been wrong with Borders for the last year, I guess this is good riddance.