Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (WBA)

[big-yank]

Arcane action in the Walgreens Deerfield C suite! Joseph Magnacca is promoted to Executive Vice President in an announcement made by Greg Wasson on February 1st. Such a move must have been in the works for some time, obviously with Magnacca's knowledge and assent over details like compensation. Senior appointments like this are just not doled out casually.

Less than a week later, Magnacca announces he is leaving Walgreens to become CEO at Radio Shack, a very troubled retailer with highly questionable survivability. This is all very strange. I once was offered a significant promotion, knew I was resigning in a few weeks and came up with a plausible reason for turning it down. When I later resigned, I explained that I did not want to embarass the company or create confusion by accepting a new role and then pulling a 180, shortly thereafter. My company was extremely grateful for how I handled it, and I remain on great terms with their leadership, to this day.

Walgreens would have every reason to be furious over the lack of class Magnacca's action exhibits. It is a slap in Wasson's face and an embarassment to the entire Deerfield inner circle, IMHO. Anyone who would employ such slimeball tactics is an executive worth losing, and Walgreens will be better off replacing this guy with a person, male or female, with higher ethical standards. It is sad that Walgreens had a highly competent woman heading Marketing who did an exceptional job reinventing their ad strategy and promotional portfolio, only to replace her with this dirtbag. Maybe she remains available!

GLTA,

Yank