Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci is stepping down from the top role after eight and a half years, it was announced today.
Banducci will retire in September this year, Woolworths informed the Australian Stock Exchange this morning.
He will be succeeded as Woolworths Group CEO and managing director by Amanda Bardwell from September 1.
Banducci’s announcement comes on the heels of a heated grilling on ABC’s Four Corners which saw the CEO temporarily walk out in an apparent flash of temper.
Asked about former ACCC chair Rod Sims’ comments that Australia had one of the most concentrated grocery markets in the world, Banducci said it “wasn’t true” and dismissed Sims as “retired”, before asking the latter comment to be taken off the record.
Sims stepped down from the ACCC in 2022.
A recent report by another former ACCC chair, Professor Allan Fels, has shone a spotlight on Australia’s supermarkets – among other industries – with biting observations about the extent of alleged price gouging targeting both producers and customers.
Meanwhile, an ACCC inquiry into supermarket pricing was launched by the federal government earlier this month.
However, in his farewell statement, Banducci was sanguine and full of praise for his time at the company.
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“It has been a privilege to be a member of the Woolies team and one I have never taken for granted,” Banducci said.
He said he would work with Bardwell in the coming months to facilitate the transition and set Woolworths up for “the next chapter”.
Banducci has been with Woolworths Group for 13 years.
Group chair Scott Perkins credited him with leading a “remarkable turnaround and transformation” at Woolworths, saying Banducci would be remembered as one of the Group’s finest leaders.
