Black Fortune 500 CEO's Are Dropping Like Flies: What's Up???Merrill Lynch's Stanley O'Neal. Time Warner's Richard Parsons. Now Sears is the latest to have a member of the family part ways with a major player on Wall Street. The holdings corportation abruptly announced the departure it's African American president and chief executive officer, leaving a management void at the top of the department store chain as it tries a high-stakes restructuring to reconnect with customers and reinvigorate slumping sales.
Aylwin B. Lewis, 52, was an executive at fast-food chain Yum Brands Inc. and had little retail experience when he was hand-picked in 2004 to run Kmart and later Sears. In addition to leaving as CEO, the brotha will also resign from the Sears'. W. Bruce Johnson was named as interim CEO while the company looks for a permanent successor.
The company gave no timeline for finding a full-time replacement for Lewis, who was one of the nation's few black CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, but industry experts said Sears needs to tap an executive with retail experience if the company has any hopes of succeeding.
For the first three quarters of the year, Sears' profit has fallen more than 40 percent. And earlier this month the company said it managed to post third-quarter earnings of just $2 million — down 99 percent from last year.
Adding to investors' frustrations, was a warning that Sears would likely post fourth-quarter earnings well below Wall Street forecasts as eroding sales push its profit down as much as 57 percent.
The company said it expects to earn between $350 million and $470 million, or $2.59 to $3.48 per share, for the quarter ending Saturday — far less than the $4.43 per share sought by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Sears earned $820 million in the fourth quarter a year earlier.
Sears shares, which reached a high of $195.18 in April, rose $1.28, or 1.3 percent, to $100.28 Monday.
Aylwin B. Lewis, 52, was an executive at fast-food chain Yum Brands Inc. and had little retail experience when he was hand-picked in 2004 to run Kmart and later Sears. In addition to leaving as CEO, the brotha will also resign from the Sears'. W. Bruce Johnson was named as interim CEO while the company looks for a permanent successor.
The company gave no timeline for finding a full-time replacement for Lewis, who was one of the nation's few black CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, but industry experts said Sears needs to tap an executive with retail experience if the company has any hopes of succeeding.
For the first three quarters of the year, Sears' profit has fallen more than 40 percent. And earlier this month the company said it managed to post third-quarter earnings of just $2 million — down 99 percent from last year.
Adding to investors' frustrations, was a warning that Sears would likely post fourth-quarter earnings well below Wall Street forecasts as eroding sales push its profit down as much as 57 percent.
The company said it expects to earn between $350 million and $470 million, or $2.59 to $3.48 per share, for the quarter ending Saturday — far less than the $4.43 per share sought by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Sears earned $820 million in the fourth quarter a year earlier.
Sears shares, which reached a high of $195.18 in April, rose $1.28, or 1.3 percent, to $100.28 Monday.