When Lululemon Athletica announced in April that former Nike senior executive Heidi O’Neill was becoming its new CEO this month, the athleisure pioneer was already struggling. Its core North American business was slipping, and there was a sense the yogawear maker had lost much of the magic that had inspired intense devotion among its customers for years.
But in the five months between her appointment and when she assumed the job on Tuesday, Lululemon’s deterioration has only accelerated. The company, which had been run on an interim basis by two C-suite executives since late January, reported another terrible quarter last week, with a 12% drop in comparable sales in North America. It cut its full-year outlook for the second time in three months, intensifying worries that first-time CEO O’Neill might not be able to stop the decline.
