Tesco's Ex-Chief Sir Terry Leahy Slammed by Predecessor Lord MacLaurin Over Failed U.S. Expansion


Mon. July 1st, 2013 - by Whit Grebitus

<p>It looks as if Sir Terry Leahy's reputation is remaining far from intact. The ex-Tesco Chief has been publicly slammed by his old mentor and former chairman, Lord MacLaurin, at the supermarket's annual general meeting. </p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>MacLaurin's criticism comes in the wake strategic failures that ended with Tesco losing £1.5bn on its failed US expansion and neglect of the company's domestic market. MacLaurin told the Guardian that Leahy "lost the plot" and that the US venture was "disastrous."<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">During the meeting MacLaurin, addressed the board, stating, "I think you would probably agree with me that when you judge the performance of a chief executive, you not only judge the performance of his day-to-day operation, but you also have to judge his legacy and I think we're all very sad to see the legacy Sir Terry Leahy has left."</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Tesco's profits have fallen by more than 50% during the past year and the company is facing problems in a number of markets, including Turkey and China, according to the Guardian, report. Its UK business has underperformed rivals and it has written down property investments by £804m along with abandoning its ambitions in the US with Fresh &amp; Easy. The US Fresh &amp; Easy venture was run by Tim Mason, MacLaurin's son-in-law, who was ousted from the business this year but not before he was paid £5.7m.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jun/28/tesco-terry-leahy-attack-mclaurin" target="_new"> Tesco </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">