David Taylor has landed in an enviable spot.
Buoyed by a promotion to oversee the beauty business, the Procter & Gamble Co. veteran has found himself the front-runner in the race to eventually succeed A.G. Lafley, the firm’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. Taylor’s rise has dimmed the chances of Deb Henretta, P&G’s group president of Global Beauty, who was once seen as an early contender for the top job.
Taylor, group president of Global Health & Grooming, will double the scope of his responsibilities by adding the beleaguered beauty business to his domain, according to sources citing an internal announcement.
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While Taylor will become group president of Global Beauty, Grooming & Health Care, effective Feb. 1, Henretta, the head of beauty, will move into the newly created leadership position of group president of Global E-business. She will be succeeded by Patrice Louvet, now group president of Global Cosmetics, Prestige and Salon Professional, who will maintain his duties while adding personal, skin and hair care. He will assume her title of group president of Global Beauty.
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Taylor is one of the top P&G lieutenants who has been widely viewed on Wall Street as a prime candidate to eventually succeed Lafley, and Wednesday’s move only bolsters that view.
Ali Dibadj at Sanford C. Bernstein is one of the analysts who deemed Taylor a frontrunner for ceo and Henretta an unlikely contender. In his view, Taylor’s promotion is not a final test, but a vote of confidence.
“David is the most likely candidate,” said Dibadj. “The question becomes, when does Lafley step away.” He suggested that Lafley may opt to move into an executive chairman role within one to two years, provided the largest planned divestitures — Wella is expected to be one of them — are completed by then.
Lafley is balancing several huge tasks at once. He is looking for a successor while also trying to reignite growth across the global conglomerate, especially in its floundering beauty division. P&G has been slimming down the girth of the company with a plan to eliminate 80 to 90 of the company’s 120 brands.
As for beauty, there has been initial signs of progress in the hair-care business, namely the Pantene and Head & Shoulders brands, according to knowledgeable sources. But elsewhere in beauty, there remains “patches of ugliness,” such as in the Olay skin-care brand, according to one source. The intractable difficulties of Olay came to a head in the fall when Alex Keith was moved from vice president of North America Fabric Care to president of Global Skin Care and Personal Care. The move touched off a flurry of speculation about Henretta’s prospects inside the corporation.
Sources on Wednesday put a positive spin on Henretta’s new e-commerce role. She has shown a passion for digital for quite some time, which was on view during a rousing speech she gave at a WWD Beauty CEO Summit in New York in 2013.
Henretta was named group president of Global Beauty Care in 2012, and a year later was promoted to group president of Global Beauty. Her rise over the beauty business was overseen by former ceo Bob McDonald, who was abruptly replaced by Lafley in May 2013. Henretta is known as an aggressive executive with a penchant for speedy diagnosis and solutions. But according to Wall Street analysts, she struggled in her attempt to turn the beauty business around.
Beauty net sales declined 2 percent to $19.51 billion in 2014.
For the last year or so, financial sources rejected the idea that Henretta was still in the running to replace Lafley.
While declining to discuss details, P&G spokesman Paul Fox commented, “These leadership changes are another step forward in improving strategies, capabilities and plans on key business priorities where P&G needs to win. It will continue to make us a simpler, more focused company that is faster-growing and creating greater value for consumers and shareholders.”