Lululemon Athletica’s shares are swooning after the leggings maker this week named a new chief executive who investors say doesn’t have the chops to solve the struggling company’s problems.
Lululemon’s shares were down by as much as 12% late Thursday morning after it named Nike veteran Heidi O’Neill as new CEO starting Sept. 8.
“We are disappointed with the announcement and investors are, too, as the shares are down,” BNP Paribas analyst Laurent Vasilescu wrote in a research note. “Lululemon needs a turnaround CEO and not a growth CEO.”
Lululemon has been under pressure for more than a year, with two proxy fights raging as the company’s weak financial performance has become a flash point.
Its founder and former chief executive, Chip Wilson, has been vocal about the board’s responsibility in the company’s woes.
He has argued that the company’s leadership needs to be overhauled while Elliott Investment Management took a $1 billion stake in the company last year and pushed for former Ralph Lauren executive Jane Nielsen to become CEO.
Nielsen “would have been the right pick,” Vasilescu wrote.
O’Neill succeeds Calvin McDonald, who stepped down in January – after a seven-year run – amid declining sales in 2025 and new product misses.
Known for its pricey yoga apparel and athleisure wear, Lululemon launched a number of new products that flopped – including brightly colored apparel and puffer jackets – forcing aggressive discounting.
It lost market share to newer rivals, including Vuori and Alo Yoga, as The Post previously reported.
In its most recent quarter, Lululemon’s sales in North America declined by 4% compared to a year ago, while overall sales grew by 1% to $3.6 billion.
Still, O’Neill depicted the company’s prospects as promising.
“Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” O’Neill said in a statement. “As I step into the CEO role in September, my job will be to build on that foundation – to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance.”
She spent more than two decades at Nike, rising to president of consumer, product and brand before leaving the company in September.
O’Neill is an “obvious choice” for the role, GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders wrote on LinkedIn.
“There will be some, mostly activist investors,” O’Neill added, “who see O’Neill as something of a safe and traditional choice. This argument is partly valid as a lot of cultural change is needed at Lululemon in order to improve performance.”
A spokesperson for Wilson declined to comment on O’Neill. Elliott Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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