Retail

Lululemon Founder Resigns From Board

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Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) founder Chip Wilson announced on Monday that he is resigning from the company’s board of directors. Wilson resigned as chairman of the board in December 2013. In August of last year Wilson agreed to sell approximately half his 27.7% stake in Lululemon to private equity firm Advent International for $844 million and to enter a standstill agreement that prohibited him from soliciting proxies until after the 2016 Lululemon stockholders’ meeting.

In his press release Wilson said:

I am happy to say that I now believe the company has returned to the core values that made it great — product, brand and culture — and is back on track. … I have achieved the goals I set when I came back, and after careful thought, I believe that now is the right time to step away from the board.

Under the terms of Wilson’s agreement with Advent, he is entitled to designate one board member as long as he owns 8% of Lululemon’s voting stock. In the event that Wilson’s stake should fall to less than 4%, his designated board member must resign from the board. Wilson’s stake in the company remains around 14%.

Lululemon’s shares have jumped nearly 45% since December 5, when the stock closed at $44.93. Shares closed Friday at $66.24, close to the 52-week high of $67.71 posted earlier last week. Shares last traded around that figure in December 2013.

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The timing of Wilson’s resignation may indicate that he could be preparing to sell more shares. In his press release Wilson noted that by leaving Lululemon now he can spend more time working with his wife and son as they grow their new clothing business.

Lululemon’s shares traded down about 1.5% Monday morning, at $65.26 in a 52-week range of $36.26 to $67.71. The stock’s consensus price target is around $62.

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