Kohl’s canned its chief executive — hired just four months ago — after an investigation showed he violated the retailer’s conflict-of-interest policies, the company said Thursday.
Ashley Buchanan directed Kohl’s to “engage in vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflicts of interest,” the company said.
Kohl’s audit committee oversaw an investigation led by an outside law firm that found that Buchanan had not disclosed the vendor relationships that were deemed inappropriate and for which he was fired for cause.
Kohl’s named board member Michael Bender as interim CEO effective immediately.
Bender has served as a director since July 2019 and was appointed board chair in May 2024.
Kohl’s shares are up by nearly 6% to $7.09 on the news.
Buchanan directed the company to do business with a vendor founded by an individual to whom he had ties, according to a Thursday securities filing.
The vendor signed a multimillion-dollar consulting agreement with Kohl’s with unusually favorable terms, according to the filing.
Buchanan will forfeit all equity awards he received from the company and be required to reimburse Kohl’s on a pro-rated basis for a signing award worth $2.5 million, according to the filing.
Kohl’s said Buchanan’s termination had no bearing on the company’s financial performance as the company released preliminary financial results for the first quarter showing that comparable sales will be down by between 4% and 4.3%.
The budget department store based in Menomonee, Wis., has had three CEOs over the past three years as it struggles to stanch declining sales.
Buchanan followed Tom Kingsubury, who lasted less than two years on the job after succeeding Michelle Gass, who left Kohl’s for Levi’s.
