After becoming a Dame of the British Empire in a ‘low key’ ceremony earlier this month, rumor had it that Apple’s new retail chief Angela Ahrendts would be leaving her CEO position at Burberry this month. Apple has never confirmed as much apart from saying Ahrendts would start in the spring back in its original announcement, but today reports claim Ahrendts might stick around at Burberry a little longer. The Guardian reports that while Ahrendts is free to leave after serving her 6 months notice and helping transition in a new CEO, she could earn as much as an £8m or $13.5m bonus if she stays at Burberry through June:
Ahrendts is free to leave Burberry this month, having worked her six-month notice period, but the American promised to stay on until the middle of this year to smooth a handover to her successor Christopher Bailey, currently chief creative officer. Remaining until 6 June would also allow her to collect two multimillion pound share bonuses relating to performance over the last few years.
The report adds that “the most likely reason no leaving date has been confirmed is that she is wrangling with Burberry and Apple over compensation for the payout in June.”
As of yesterday, Angela was still being quoted as CEO in the company’s latest earnings report. In that same report, Ahrendts notes that “the management transition [is] well underway,” but doesn’t specify when she’ll be leaving for Apple for good.
Although Ahrendts will take over as Apple SVP of retail after more than a year without someone in the position, she will actually be taking up a newly created role making her the first to head of retail that will run both Apple’s online and offline operations.
