New Walgreens CEO Will Have to Shake Chairman’s Enduring Grip

After six years of precipitous stock declines for Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. under the leadership of Stefano Pessina, the board decided in early 2021 to bring in a fresh perspective—or so it seemed. What had made Pessina a billionaire in Europe wasn’t working in the US. His long-held ambitions of turning Walgreens into a global retailer, when American drugstores operate primarily as pharmacies, had halved the company’s value.

But it’s been two and a half years since Pessina handed over the reins, and the transition was so unsuccessful that the last chief executive officer, Rosalind Brewer, left abruptly ...