Chief executive officer Brad Martin, who last year was embroiled in a federal accounting probe into improper vendor markdowns, stepped down from his post Monday but will continue to perform some executive duties until the end of 2006 and will remain board chairman, the company said.
Martin, who has been the company's CEO for the last 16 years, was replaced by Stephen Sadove. The 54-year-old Sadove, former president of Bristol-Myers Squibb worldwide beauty care and nutritionals division, will also take control of the Saks Fifth Avenue unit following the resignation of that division's chairman, Fred Wilson.
The shakeup and possible sale of the Parisian division comes just two months after Saks agreed to sell its 142 Midwestern stores, including the Carson Pirie Scott and Bergner's chains, to Bon-Ton Stores Inc. The company said that $1.1 billion sale should be completed by the first quarter of 2006 as previously planned.
The upscale retailer also reversed its decision to retain its Parisian chain and said it hired Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Citigroup Inc. to explore the sale o that asset.
The company sold off 47 Proffitt's and McRae's stores, most located in the South, to Belk Inc. for $622 million in July. The $1.7 billion in profits from those sales are expected to be distributed to shareholders either through share repurchases or a special dividend, the company said. The sell off will leave Saks Inc. with its Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprise division, which includes Saks Fifth Avenue stores, and its Club Libby Lu specialty stores, which caters to pre-teens.
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