Highly Unusual Firing of Founder George Zimmer, More Unusual Stock Price Reaction

Maybe the termination was that Zimmer could not guarantee things anymore. He has been known for years as saying in commercials, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.”

The website’s corporate governance site discusses its Code of Business Conduct. Was there a Code violation? We also find it troubling that the company has postponed its annual shareholder meeting. The excuse is that the postponing is to renominate the existing slate of directors without Zimmer. Unfortunately, that sounds a bit of an understated excuse, and a reschedule date has not yet been set.

How does this sound from the press release? “The Board expects to discuss with Mr. Zimmer the extent, if any, and terms of his ongoing relationship with the Company.”

Under the corporate governance site, Zimmer’s quote still appears as:

Trust and respect are the cornerstones of our philosophy; our collective honesty, sincerity, integrity, responsiveness, authenticity, mutual goodwill, and caring for each other will allow us individually and as a company to achieve maximum success. They are also the cornerstones of our values; nurturing creativity, growing together, admitting to mistakes, promoting a happy and healthy lifestyle, enhancing a sense of community, and striving toward becoming self-actualized people. This Code of Business Conduct will help you ensure that these core values, our mission, and our integrity are internalized and perpetuated as we grow individually and as a company.

The long and short of the matter is that something very serious may have happened. The question is whether it was professional or personal. There are so many issues that have resulted in founder firings that it is really hard to nail down. Zimmer’s pay was listed as $1.98 million in 2012.

Terminating a founder is a touchy situation. The decision came so fast that the company has not been able to remove Zimmer’s great accolades from its website as of yet. The company timeline reconfirms a recent handing-over of the chief executive officer role from Zimmer to Douglas Ewert, and that timeline stated then that Zimmer would remain as nonexecutive chairman and would continue to be the face and voice of the company.

Men’s Wearhouse shares are down only 1.8% to $36.77, against a 52-week trading range of $25.97 to $38.59. We have seen nothing unusual in the short interest, which has been in decline. The activity in the stock options is skewed toward the put options (right to sell) for June, July and August, with most trading volume already larger than the open interest in the same active contracts.

It is hard to call the situation out too much here, with so little known as to what happened. Frankly, it is shocking that the stock is not down more considering how unusual this is.

UPDATE at 1:15 PM EST: Response posted at WSJ Blog