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Victoria’s Secret CEO announces her resignation, people blame woke turn

January 7, 2023 | | Print Article

Corporate adherence to the woke agenda appeared to scalp another scapegoat when the Brand CEO of Victoria’s Secret announced her resignation, only worsening the near-term outlooks.

After only a little more than half a year in the role, the resignation of Amy Hauk was officially announced by the lingerie retailer on Tuesday through their most recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. According to the disclosure, Hauk had announced the decision on December 27, 2022, with an effective date of March 31, 2023.

“Amy Hauk will be stepping down as CEO of Victoria’s Secret and PINK in order to spend more time with her family in Florida,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. An email to CBS MoneyWatch continued, “Amy has graciously agreed to a managed transition between now and the end of March. There are no plans to replace her.”

Instead, the filing detailed that CEO Martin Waters will continue his normal duties and “also assume the responsibilities of Brand CEO.”

Hauk had stepped into the role in July amid already turbulent times for Victoria’s Secret which had become independent from parent company L Brands a year earlier. The Brand CEO’s appointment occurred as 160 employees at corporate headquarters in Ohio were laid off, all management-level, as they distanced themselves from their well-established identity to embrace a broader market that included gender-neutral options.

The damage suffered by the woke marketing was measurable as with the announcement of Hauk’s supposed voluntary resignation came a reported drop in shares by 5.65 percent. This downward trend continued even as the SEC filing announced that Victoria’s Secret had successfully completed their acquisition of AdoreMe, Inc. for roughly $400 million as the company sought to reacquire some of the customer base that had been lost to niche and online retailers.

However, abandoning “Angels” and their annual fashion show weren’t the only doomsayers for the company that had once boasted a third of all market share in women’s lingerie. Victoria’s Secret has also been struggling with its reputation after it had been revealed that the former owner, Leslie Wexner, had been a former client and associate of the infamous Jeffrey Epstein.

In December, court documents of Sarah Ransome, an alleged victim of Epstein’s reported pedophile island, were unsealed where, in addition to the abhorrent way she and other young women and girls were said to be treated, she stated “All of the outfits–there were clothes provided on the island by Jeffrey Epstein, which were all Victoria’s Secret clothing: bikinis, nightgowns.”

Predictions for the company’s performance this year were mixed as CNN reported a sales projection loss of up to seven percent for fiscal year 2023 while JP Morgan analyst Matthew assigned a “Neutral” rating expecting to stock to recoup to $43 per share after its dip with Hauk’s announcement. In either case, the retailer with nearly 1,350 worldwide locations has fallen quite a ways from its previous prominence.

Kevin Haggerty
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