Amid reports of weak sales, McDonald?s CEO Don Thompson is set to step down from his role on March 1st. Hired in 2012, Thompson was one of the few African Americans to lead a Fortune 500 company.
He will be replaced by Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Brand Officer Steve Easterbrook.
Thompson, 51, previously served as the company’s chief operating officer. In his new role, he was charged with “adding to nearly nine years of sales gains at established restaurants.”
But he had his work cut out for him.
According to an online piece by Reuters, the world’s biggest fast-food chain had been underperforming for some time and just two months after Thompson was hired, “McDonald’s reported a decline in same-store sales as it fought to hold on to customers with changing tastes amid external pressures ranging from political and economic turmoil in Europe to food safety scares in China.”
Read more at CNBC.
