Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci has announced he is stepping down just days after walking out of an ABC interview and in the wake of the supermarket’s controversial call not to sell Australia Day merchandise.
Australia’s biggest supermarket chain announced on Wednesday morning that South African-born Mr Banducci will retire in September after 13 years with the company, including almost nine as chief executive.
Mr Banducci, who last year received a total pay package of $8.65million, will be replaced by Amanda Bardwell, the current managing director of digital subsidiary WooliesX, after an ‘extensive international search process’.
Ms Bardwell, who has been with the Woolworths Group for 23 years, will receive a base salary of $2.15million alongside generous bonus incentives.
The announcement came as the Woolworths Group revealed a half-year net loss of $781million, leading to the share price plunging by 6.3 per cent to $33.61 in the opening minutes of trade on Wednesday.
The disappointing result for the six months to December occurred as Woolworths wrote off the assets of its struggling New Zealand supermarket arm.
Woolworths Group, which also owns Big W, made a net profit of $1.62billion in the 2022-23 financial year.
Mr Banducci’s retirement decision comes just days after he walked out of an ABC interview after asking if one of his answers could be cut from the recording.
The embattled boss also came under fire in recent months for Woolworths’ decision to dump Australia Day merchandise from all its stores.
The move provoked widespread fury, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton calling for a boycott of the supermarket chain.
Some shoppers demanded Mr Banducci’s resignation, while Woolworths staff bore the brunt of the backlash after they were subjected to abuse from customers and some stores were vandalised.
In a memo to staff obtained by Daily Mail Australia, Mr Banducci told staff he was ‘deeply sorry’ they were suffering because of the company’s decision.
‘I want to personally apologise to all of you for the way our merchandising decision has been received – and how this has resulted in hurtful and inappropriate reactions directed at you, our team members,’ Mr Banducci wrote.
He has also faced criticism for Woolworth’s alleged price gouging during the cost-of-living crisis.
Woolworths has a 37 per cent market share, ahead of rival Coles on 28 per cent.
The duopoly has a 65 per cent share of the grocery market, the government’s Food and Grocery Independent Reviewer found.
This is among the most concentrated in the developed world, with Australia’s inflation rate of 4.1 per cent higher than other rich nations.
A Senate inquiry is now scrutinising the disadvantages of market concentration on food prices and the pattern of pricing strategies employed by the supermarket ‘duopoly’ – Coles and Woolworths.
Woolworths is Australia’s biggest supermarket chain with a market capitalisation of $41.2billion. More 200,000 people work for the business.
Mr Banducci said at Woolworths’ half-year results briefing on Wednesday that he would ‘retire, not resign’ at the end of August.
‘After eight years in the role and as we’re going to centenary, it felt the right time to pass on the baton,’ he said.
Mr Banducci (pictured), who last year received a total pay package of $8.65million, will be replaced by Amanda Bardwell, who will receive a base salary of $2.15million with generous bonus incentives
Woolworths insisted it was a business decision based on declining sales in recent years
The annoucnment comes days after Mr Banducci walked out on an interview with the ABC’s Four Corners program, which aired on Monday night.
Reporter Angus Grigg put it to Mr Banducci that Rod Sims, the former head of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, had described Australia as having one of the most concentrated supermarket industries in the world.
Mr Banducci replied ‘that’s not true’ and attempted to argue that the industry was in fact ‘an incredibly competitive market’.
He also pointed out that Mr Sims is ‘retired’.
When Grigg asked the Woolworths boss if he was ‘impugning’ Mr Sims’ integrity, Mr Banducci asked: ‘Can we take that out? Is that OK?’
Grigg then said: ‘We’re on the record, you’ve said it… let’s just move on.’
Seconds later, Mr Banducci said, ‘I think I’m done guys,’ and walked out of the room.
He eventually returned with Grigg later describing his mid-interview walk-out as ‘pretty startling’.
‘I think it shows you really that there you have the boss off the largest supermarket chain in the country really unwilling to face too many questions and it shows how little scrutiny they’ve had over the years,’ he said.
Woolworths Group chair Scott Perkins paid tribute to Mr Banducci’s ‘outstanding leadership and contribution’.
‘The test of any CEO is to leave the business in much better shape that when they started,’ Mr Perkins said.
‘On that simple metric, history, will judge Brad to have been one of Woolworths Group’s finest leaders.’
Mr Perkins insisted that the announcement of Mr Banducci’s resignation was ‘completely unaffected by external events of the last couple of weeks’ and that the search for a successor began in mid-2023.
‘I can be absolutely emphatic on that point,’ he said.