The Memphis-based company, which was forced to abandon its bid to acquire to nearly hundreds of Rite Aid stores, is under immense pressure as it lost a deep bench of its key executives during a highly volatile period. The company’s CEO Michael Bloom resigned in less than two years to pursue other interests. Fred also lost its COO Timothy Liebmann and chief merchandising and marketing officer Mary Louise Gardner recently. Joseph Anto has been appointed as the Interim CEO.
To drive its revenue growth and boost gross margins, the company remains focused on its healthcare transformation strategy. Fred is also considering divesting its specialty pharmacy business, a subset of the company’s pharmacy business.
“We are bringing new talent into every part of the organization, including store operations, supply chain, private brands, finance and real estate. Additionally, we have multiple initiatives focused on driving revenue and gross margin in the front store and we continue to actively manage and reduce our SKU count in order to optimize our assortment,” said Joseph Anto, interim CEO.