Diageo CEO Debra Crew resigns amid stock plunge and sales challenges, CFO Nik Jhangiani appointed as interim leader
The maker of Guinness and Johnnie Walker whisky said Wednesday Chief Financial Officer Nik Jhangiani had been appointed interim CEO, with a search already under way for Crew's permanent replacement.
Shares of Diageo rose as much as 4.4%, the most since April. The stock had slumped 43% through Tuesday's close since Crew took over in June 2023.
Her tenure has been punctuated by setbacks including a drop in sales on cooling demand in China and the US, and a profit warning after being caught out by piles of unsold inventory in Mexico and Brazil.
The company was forced to scrap its long-held medium-term sales target in February as a result of higher trade friction denting consumer confidence. Then in May, Diageo said it would cut costs by $500 million over three years across its supply chain, advertising and promotions and its operating model. The company has also been pursuing asset disposals.
Crew, 54, a former boss of tobacco company Reynolds American Inc, was promoted to the top job at Diageo a month early after the death of predecessor Ivan Menezes. She served in the US military before beginning a career in the consumer goods industry, working at PepsiCo Inc., Nestle SA and Mars Inc.
But she took the Diageo helm at a time when pushing drinkers toward more expensive spirits had become harder due to a post-pandemic cost-of-living crisis. More recently, US President Donald Trump's tariff war has made operational challenges even tougher.
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