Market Data 
- Kohl’s board of directors said they fired CEO Ashley Buchanan over “conflicts of interest.”
- Buchanan became CEO in January.
- Michael J. Bender was named interim CEO.
Kohl’s fired its new CEO, Ashley Buchanan, less than four months after appointing him to the role.
The department store said Thursday that its board of directors terminated Buchanan after an outside counsel investigation found that Buchanan had given favorable deals to someone close to him.
An SEC filing submitted on Wednesday said Buchanan directed Kohl’s to “conduct business with a vendor founded by an individual with whom Mr. Buchanan has a personal relationship on highly unusual terms favorable to the vendor and that he also caused the Company to enter into a multimillion-dollar consulting agreement wherein the same individual was a part of the consulting team.”
Buchanan failed to disclose the personal relationship in both cases, which violates the company’s code of ethics, according to the SEC filing.
“As a result of Mr. Buchanan’s termination, the Board has determined to withdraw his nomination for election as a director of the Company at the Company’s annual meeting of shareholders,” the company said.
Buchanan must also forfeit all equity awards he received from the company and reimburse $2,500,000, a portion of his signing incentive.
The board will launch a search to find a permanent replacement for Buchanan. It named Michael J. Bender Kohl’s interim CEO.
