Walgreens Investors Are Loving Their New Starbucks And Sam's Club-Bred CEO

Starbucks Corporation SBUX has lost its COO Rosalind Brewer, who accepted the CEO title at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.

What Happened: Brewer was the CEO of Sam's Club before joining Starbucks as COO and member of the board. She played a leadership role in shifting Starbucks to focus on to-go orders. Brewer also joined Amazon.com, Inc.'s AMZN board of directors in 2019.

Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina said in July he would step down once the board finds a new replacement. He told The Wall Street Journal that Brewer boasts the necessary experience to move the company in the right direction.

Related Link: Baird Upgrades Walgreens Boots, Expects Turnaround Of 'Train Wreck' Performance

"We needed someone with an experience in retail and an experience in pharmacy and, more importantly, experience in digital," Pessina said. "She's very thoughtful and very personable, she's reasonable and she has all the qualities that are important for a chief executive."

Pessina will assume the title of Executive Chairman of the Board.

Why It's Important: Shares of Walgreens surged Wednesday morning as investors appear to be supportive of the CEO change. Despite its status as being the largest U.S. drugstore chain, Walgreens has struggled to keep up against fast-growing rivals in recent years.

Brewer will take over as Walgreens CEO on March 15. She's also stepping down from Starbucks and Amazon's board.

Walgreens traded higher by 11% to $54.70 at publication time.

^{Photo Credit: Food and Drug Conference}