By
Tolu Ajiboye
June 14th, 2023
McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired due to his relationship with an employee, which doesn’t meet the principles of the company’s policy.
A bitter end has resulted from something that could have been termed beautiful in certain quarters, a consensual relationship between a boss and an employee. But in the case of former McDonald’s CEO, Steve Easterbrook, the company’s policy has added a bad twist to his legacy.
Easterbrook’s time at McDonald’s, which includes wins like the addition of online ordering and delivery among the company’s services, has sadly come to an end due to his transgression of company law.
Beginning of the End
Immediately Easterbrook began a relationship with an employee, albeit consensual, his time with McDonald began to countdown. Events following the discovery of the relationship include investigations, which did very little to help the former CEO’s case because on Friday the 52-year-old strategist was relieved of his duty by the burger chain’s board via a voting session.
McDonald’s has a policy that dictates that the CEO should have nothing to do with any employee of the company relationship-wise and on Sunday announced the termination of Easterbrook as CEO for doing just that. After Easterbrook was fired for breaking the law of the company, he was replaced by USA President Chris Kempczinski, 51, who has now become the new president and CEO of McDonald’s.
Accepting his fate, Easterbrook admitted his wrongdoing in an email to employees and said he’ll abide by the board’s verdict.
“This was a mistake. Given the values of the company, I agree with the board that it is time for me to move on,” he wrote.
New Era for McDonald’s
Formerly the head of the UK and northern Europe divisions of the company as well as the chief brand officer, Easterbrook took over the mantle of leadership of the company in 2015 to become the CEO of McDonald’s. Under his leadership, the company’s shares saw a tremendous increase of up to 96% ($193.94), a feat he achieved by working together with Kempczinski. However, now the stock is slightly down (-1.38%)
The new CEO and president of McDonald’s, Kempczinski, has accepted his new office and through an email to employees has stated his resolve to do right by the company.