Gregg Steinhafel, the chairman and CEO of Target during the retailer’s massive breach of customer data last year, has left the company effective immediately. The company announced that the decision was made after “extensive discussions” between Steinhafel and the board. Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan will serve as interim CEO, while board member Roxanne Austin will serve as interim non-executive chair of the board.
SourceMentioned within a post on the official Target pressroom earlier today, Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel has resigned as of today after spending 35 years at the company, six of which were as the CEO. Steinhafel’s resignation has been specifically attributed to the massive credit card data breach that’s potentially impacting more than 100 million Target customers. Taking over for Steinhafel during the interim, Target chief financial officer John Mulligan is taking ov er as the interim president and chief executive officer while a search is ongoing for a permanent replacement. With early estimates in the 40 million range, the impact of the data breach has tripled in size with analysts estimating between 110 and 130 million accounts could be at risk.
So I wonder how exactly he was directly responsible for the data breach.