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| Sainsbury's boss Mike Coupe in surprise exit | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Sainsbury's has announced its chief executive Mike Coupe will retire from the supermarket group in May. | Sainsbury's has announced its chief executive Mike Coupe will retire from the supermarket group in May. |
| Mr Coupe has led Sainsbury's for almost six years, during which he oversaw a failed attempt to merge with rival supermarket Asda. | |
| The head of Sainsbury's retail and operations, Simon Roberts, will take over from Mr Coupe. | |
| "This has been a very difficult decision for me personally," Mr Coupe said. | "This has been a very difficult decision for me personally," Mr Coupe said. |
| "There is never a good time to move on, but as we and the industry continue to evolve, I believe now is the right time for me to hand over to my successor." | "There is never a good time to move on, but as we and the industry continue to evolve, I believe now is the right time for me to hand over to my successor." |
| Mr Coupe's departure is a surprise after he said last May he would be "sticking to the company" when asked whether he had been asked to step down after the failed merger. | |
| "I'm planning to stay," he said at the time. | |
| Mr Coupe's departure was announced a day after Sainsbury's said it was cutting "hundreds" of management roles to reduce costs. | |
| It said the cuts were largely due to its integration of Argos, which it bought in 2016 into the business. | |
| Mr Roberts, who is due to take over on 1 June, has been involved in integrating Sainsbury's and Argos. He was also the former president of retailer Boot UK. |