Dame Sharon’s plan for John Lewis ‘undesirable’, warns ex-chairman
John Lewis boss Dame Sharon White comes under renewed pressure after ex-chairman calls potential sale of stake to outside investor ‘highly undesirable’
John Lewis boss Dame Sharon White came under renewed pressure after an ex-chairman called the potential sale of a stake to an outside investor “highly undesirable”.
Sir Stuart Hampson said yesterday the proposal – aimed at raising as much as £2bn – could kill the ‘ghost’ of the retailer’s collaborative model.
It was the final blow to Dame Sharon amid a chorus of skepticism about the idea of bringing in outside financing, which critics say would threaten John Lewis’ cherished employee ownership structure.
Writing on the wall: The John Lewis Partnership – which includes 34 department stores and 332 Waitrose supermarkets – is the largest employee-owned company in the UK
Sir Stuart, who resisted an attempt by a group of employees to demutualize the organization in 1999, insisted that John Lewis is a ‘different kind of company’ where service levels are better because ‘the person behind the counter owns it’.
He rejected the idea that it might find a supportive investor who shares his ideals.
For the company to sell a minority stake for the first time in its 159-year history would be “deeply inappropriate,” he told The Sunday Times. “Once you sell part of the partnership to someone, they can sell it to someone else…that would be highly undesirable.”
Sir Stuart said bringing in an outside shareholder would mean ‘everyone bringing in their ideas and enthusiasm to pay off the profits to a third party’.
The John Lewis Partnership – which includes 34 department stores and 332 Waitrose supermarkets – is the largest employee-owned company in the UK.
The 80,000 ‘partners’ receive a share of the profits through annual bonuses that supplement their base salary.
John Lewis said that while it was reviewing its partnership’s future funding needs, “nothing is happening in the near term.”