Apple: retail chief Angela Ahrendts to leave in April

(CercleFinance.com) - Angela Ahrendts, the retail chief of US technology giant Apple, will leave in April for personal and professional reasons, after five years with the company, the group said on Wednesday.


The Cupertino-based company said that Deirdre O'Brien will be taking on new responsibilities for Apple's retail and online stores in an expanded role, directly reporting to CEO Tim Cook.

In her new role, she will be overseeing Apple's network of 35 online stores and 506 retail outlets.

Analysts at Wedbush find the timing of the move quite "surprising," given that Ahrendts was potentially seen as a future heir to Cook as CEO.

"That said, Apple is entering a critical period with iPhone demand sluggish on this latest XS/XR cycle and driving demand on the retail front will be critical to a rebound in success for Apple as it heads into its next product cycle in September 2019," the broker notes.

Anyhow, this news has not particularly badly hit the shares this morning, with the Apple stock down just 0.5% this morning in New York.

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