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John Mackey, CEO of Amazon-owned grocer Whole Foods, will retire next year and step down, the company said Thursday.
Current Whole Foods COO Jason Buechel will become the new CEO following Mackey’s retirement, the company said.
In a note to employees, Mackey said he was “ready to pursue some of my other life passions” after 43 years at Whole Foods and said Buechel was well prepared for the role of CEO.
“I decided it was time to start transferring my role as CEO to the next generation of leaders,” Mackey said in the memo. “I have thought long and hard about this, and although it is still surreal to write, I have decided to retire on September 1, 2022.”
Mackey’s departure comes as Amazon recently saw a stream of executives leave the company. Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO in July, with former cloud boss Andy Jassy taking the helm. In August, Amazon confirmed that Charlie Bell, a senior executive in its cloud business, was leaving the company. And Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s global consumer business, resigned earlier this year.
Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017 for $ 13.7 billion. The deal immediately sent shockwaves throughout the industry. Inventories at grocery stores, including Kroger and Sprouts Farmers Market, fell after the deal was announced, with analysts interpreting the buyout as a signal of Amazon’s ambitions to compete with traditional supermarket chains.
Since then, Amazon has deepened into grocery shopping, launching a range of online grocery delivery services, as well as its own Fresh grocery chain and cashier-less convenience store chain. Despite fears that this could upend the grocery industry, Amazon still faces stiff competition from Walmart, Target, and Kroger.
Mackey in 1978 co-founded SaferWay, an Austin, Texas natural grocery store, the precursor to Whole Foods. Two years later, SaferWay partnered with another local natural grocery store to form Whole Foods. It took off among Austin’s “hippie counter-culture community,” Mackey told NPR, and has become a major player in the health food market.
Before being acquired by Amazon, Whole Foods was under pressure from activists to sell as investors balked at its poor performance. The deal with Amazon was made in intense secrecy and has been referred to internally as “Project Athena”. Following the acquisition, Amazon reduced the prices of many Whole Foods items and introduced more Amazon signage in stores, as well as benefits for Prime members.
Read Mackey’s full letter to Whole Foods employees below:
Dear colleagues, members of the team,
I would like to share some news with you before it goes public. September marked the 43rd anniversary of Whole Foods Market (including 2 years at Safer Way, the precursor to Whole Foods) and I decided it was time to start transferring my role as CEO to the next generation of leaders. I’ve thought about it long and hard, and while it’s still surreal to write, I’ve decided to retire on September 1, 2022. It’s about 11 months from today.
Honestly, it’s very difficult to retire from a business that I have helped create, nurture and grow for 44 years when I leave it. As the co-founder of Whole Foods, I have often explained my relationship with the company with a parent-child metaphor. As a parent, I have always loved Whole Foods with all my heart. I have done my best to instill strong values, a clear sense of a higher purpose beyond profit and a culture of love that allows the company and all of our interdependent stakeholders to thrive. All parents come at a time when they must let go and trust that the values passed down will live on in their children. That time has almost come for me and for Whole Foods.
Next September, I’ll be ready to pursue some of my other passions in life and I’m delighted to announce that our COO, Jason Buechel, will become CEO upon my retirement. Jason is a true servant leader and champion of the culture and values of Whole Foods, and he will lead the company into the future. Jason has been my personal choice to replace me as CEO and I am happy that Amazon management has agreed that he is the right fit for the job.
Jason joined Whole Foods in 2013 as Global Vice President and Chief Information Officer and was promoted to Executive Vice President in 2015 before being appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2019. In addition to being responsible for operations of all WFM stores and facilities, he oversees technology, supply chain and distribution, as well as Team Member Services (TMS). Jason is one of my most trusted partners and I am incredibly confident that the business will continue to evolve and thrive under his leadership. Jason has a number of very special qualities that will help him succeed as the next CEO. Not only is he extraordinarily intelligent with exceptionally high integrity, but he is also a servant leader who lives and embodies the core values and leadership principles of Whole Foods and is fundamentally a good and loving person.
I will continue to work closely with Jason and the electronics team to gradually transfer my responsibilities and I intend to devote much of my senior year to what I enjoy doing most at Whole Foods: visiting the stores and get in touch with as many of our amazing team members as I can.
Reflecting on the history of our company and its impact on the world, I am inspired, exceptionally proud and a little overwhelmed. The success of Whole Foods Market has created tremendous value for all of our stakeholders, including our customers, team members, suppliers, investors and our communities. By working together we have helped tens of millions of people live healthier lives and it is no exaggeration to say that Whole Foods has had a very positive impact on how many people in America and around the world. eat. We have created a very special culture that has allowed us to be named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work for” for 20 consecutive years. I am very proud of the role we have played in advancing the cultivation, production and supply of food and achieving our higher goal of feeding people and the planet is what makes Whole Foods good. more than just a grocery store. I’m also proud of the thousands of small local food businesses that Whole Foods has helped launch in our stores, hundreds of which have grown into large, successful businesses in their own right. While there are so many other accomplishments that I am proud of, I especially want to recognize the incredible work our three foundations have done over the past 20 years: Whole Planet, Whole Kids and Whole Cities have, together, a positive impact on the lives of several million people.
Many people can go their entire lives without ever discovering their higher purpose, but I was fortunate enough to discover mine in 1976, when I was living in a vegetarian co-op named Prana House in Austin, two years before the opening of Safer Way. My food consciousness first awakened to Prana and I began to discover what I was called to do in this life. How lucky I was to live in such a fulfilling way.
Words cannot begin to express how deeply grateful I am for your partnership on this amazing journey and how much I love the company and all of you. I may retire from Whole Foods in a year, but as long as I am alive, I will stay connected to Whole Foods and do whatever I can to help us all continue to thrive.
I love you all very much and wish you much health and happiness. Thanks for all you’ve done.
John
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