Greg Josefowicz, president, chairman and CEO of Borders Group, plans to
retire within the next two years and will stay in his role as needed
"to assure an orderly transition," the company announced yesterday. The
board has already formed a committee of independent directors to find a
successor.
The move comes at an intriguing time for the company. Holiday sales were higher than expected, and as many as four private equity firms are reportedly interested in buying Borders and taking it private (Shelf Awareness, January 12).
Josefowicz, who is 53, joined the company in 1999 as president and CEO and became board chairman in 2002. He previously had spent his career at Jewel-Osco, working his way up through the ranks to become president of the grocery and drugstore company. (Incidentally it was announced yesterday that Jewel-Osco's parent company, Albertson's, will be bought by Supervalu, CVS and a group of real-estate investors, who will split up the company.)
In a release, Amy B. Lane, presiding director of the board, commented: "Greg has done an outstanding job of moving the company forward during his more than six years as CEO and we have no doubt that he and his team will continue to manage the company well during this time of transition. The strategic direction put in place under Greg's leadership, with its emphasis on continued growth of the Borders brand around the world, will remain in place and the company will continue to move forward under the current business plan."
For his part, Josefowicz said, "I have been proud to work with the team at Borders Group to build the Borders brand as a global leader in bookselling and to drive value for our shareholders. Over the next two years, working with the leadership team and the Board as appropriate, I will continue to focus on key business initiatives and work to maintain the momentum we've established. I am committed to making this a smooth transition."
During Josefowicz's tenure Borders has expanded dramatically abroad; continued to open superstores in the U.S.; shrunk and transformed the Waldenbooks division (adding Borders Expresses); outsourced some functions, including the Web site, which is administered by Amazon.com; introduced category management into the book world; hired sales and marketing people from other industries; bought PaperChase, the stationery company; and remodeled and updated many of its stores.
The move comes at an intriguing time for the company. Holiday sales were higher than expected, and as many as four private equity firms are reportedly interested in buying Borders and taking it private (Shelf Awareness, January 12).
Josefowicz, who is 53, joined the company in 1999 as president and CEO and became board chairman in 2002. He previously had spent his career at Jewel-Osco, working his way up through the ranks to become president of the grocery and drugstore company. (Incidentally it was announced yesterday that Jewel-Osco's parent company, Albertson's, will be bought by Supervalu, CVS and a group of real-estate investors, who will split up the company.)
In a release, Amy B. Lane, presiding director of the board, commented: "Greg has done an outstanding job of moving the company forward during his more than six years as CEO and we have no doubt that he and his team will continue to manage the company well during this time of transition. The strategic direction put in place under Greg's leadership, with its emphasis on continued growth of the Borders brand around the world, will remain in place and the company will continue to move forward under the current business plan."
For his part, Josefowicz said, "I have been proud to work with the team at Borders Group to build the Borders brand as a global leader in bookselling and to drive value for our shareholders. Over the next two years, working with the leadership team and the Board as appropriate, I will continue to focus on key business initiatives and work to maintain the momentum we've established. I am committed to making this a smooth transition."
During Josefowicz's tenure Borders has expanded dramatically abroad; continued to open superstores in the U.S.; shrunk and transformed the Waldenbooks division (adding Borders Expresses); outsourced some functions, including the Web site, which is administered by Amazon.com; introduced category management into the book world; hired sales and marketing people from other industries; bought PaperChase, the stationery company; and remodeled and updated many of its stores.