IN DEPTH

Can Asda chief Allan Leighton buck the trend of the boomerang CEOs?

The surprise reappointment of the retail chain’s former chief executive means he joins a long list of big hitters who returned to the companies they once led — with mixed results

The return to Asda of Allan Leighton, right, 24 years after leaving the retailer, has echoes of other boomerang bosses Howard Schultz, left, who twice returned to lead Starbucks, and Steve Jobs, who went back to Apple in 1997
The return to Asda of Allan Leighton, right, 24 years after leaving the retailer, has echoes of other boomerang bosses Howard Schultz, left, who twice returned to lead Starbucks, and Steve Jobs, who went back to Apple in 1997
Rupert Neate
The Times

Allan Leighton returned to Asda’s headquarters in Leeds this week as its newly appointed executive chairman with a mission to “restore Asda’s DNA” 24 years after he last left the building as chief executive.

Leighton’s surprise reappointment to lead the retail chain, which is struggling against fierce competition from discount retailers as well as a mountain of debt and an IT nightmare, means he is the latest to join a growing trend of so-called “boomerang CEOs”.

“It used to be exceptionally rare that a board would look to the past for a solution,” says professor Randall Peterson, director of the Leadership Institute at London Business School. “But now it seems to be happening on a fairly regular basis. Boards are increasingly impatient and want quick,

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