It looks as if Sir Terry Leahy's reputation is remaining far from intact. The ex-Tesco Chief has been publicly slammed by his old mentor and former chairman, Lord MacLaurin, at the supermarket's annual general meeting.
MacLaurin's criticism comes in the wake strategic failures that ended with Tesco losing £1.5bn on its failed US expansion and neglect of the company's domestic market. MacLaurin told the Guardian that Leahy "lost the plot" and that the US venture was "disastrous."
During the meeting MacLaurin, addressed the board, stating, "I think you would probably agree with me that when you judge the performance of a chief executive, you not only judge the performance of his day-to-day operation, but you also have to judge his legacy and I think we're all very sad to see the legacy Sir Terry Leahy has left."
Tesco's profits have fallen by more than 50% during the past year and the company is facing problems in a number of markets, including Turkey and China, according to the Guardian, report. Its UK business has underperformed rivals and it has written down property investments by £804m along with abandoning its ambitions in the US with Fresh & Easy. The US Fresh & Easy venture was run by Tim Mason, MacLaurin's son-in-law, who was ousted from the business this year but not before he was paid £5.7m.