Kohl change efforts were a major blow, as his new CEO is fired on a scandal that involves a “personal relationship” a few months after taking the higher job

That didn’t take long.

Kohl looks back to a CEO to end his fall for a whole year after the department store retailer shot ashley buchanan Only three and a half months after work.

An internal investigation found that Buchanan directed contracts to a company owned by someone with whom he has an unspecified personal relationship, According to dry documents. On Thursday, Kohl’s said that Buchanan, who took the reins on January 15, had directed Kohl to do business “in highly unusual terms favorable to the seller” and to introduce “a consulting agreement of several million $” beneficial to that person and did not disseminate his personal relationship.

The scandal comes in a bad time for the company: Kohl is in an important attempt to change, as he tries to win buyers in a hard retail environment. Buchanan did not have time to formulate his change plan and was still in the diagnostic phase. Now, its rapid slope means that Kohl has to start another search for CEOs, which will maintain a cloud of uncertainty about the company, as it struggles to reverse its fortunes.

Kohl’s has reported 12 consecutive quarters of drop in income without any end in sight. Their store brands have fallen with buyers and other brands that sell can be found in many other retailers such as Amazon, ObjectiveDick’s sports products and Walmart. There have been recent closures and layoffs. Kohl’s will report the first quarter revenue at the end of May, but said that he hopes another decrease in the ending quarter.

The next permanent CEO of the company would need time to get to know the business before formulating a transmission plan. And all this comes at a particularly terrible moment in the calendar year of any retail company: Kohl’s makes plans and orders for the lucrative district of the holiday season.

“Kohl’s is without a permanent captain at a time when the boat looks away from Seaworthy,” said Globaldate’s CEO, Neil Saunders, in a research note. “Kohl has to find someone with the skills needed to promote a quick change and return to the company on the front. Given the deep problems of the chain, it may be a high order.”

For now, President Michael Bender, a chief executive who has been the CEO of the Optical Retail Eyemart Express, and the head of operations of Walmart USA E-Commerce, will assume the role of temporary CEO of Kohls. It will be up to the interior and, possibly, another person on the road, to address the problems of the company. But as Kohl buyer defects decrease consumers’ confidence, rates that threaten to make their merchandise more expensive and the market share benefits of competitors.

By the way, Bender is probably the right man for work. He has been on the Council since 2019 and has been chairing since last May. This means continuity and strong control over the details about the business.

And it is worth noting that, no matter how disrupt, another search for CEO, Wall Street did not seem like the exit of Buchanan: Kohl’s shares increased by 6% in mid -morning negotiation.

This story originally presented to Fortune.com

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