Walgreens CEO Departs After Push Into Health Care Falls Flat

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Rosalind Brewer ended her brief tenure at the top this week, as the company struggles to break away from its retail roots and move into more lucrative parts of health care.

Under Brewer’s leadership, the company added primary care centers to hundreds of US stores and acquired urgent-care provider Summit Health-City MD to draw in customers and move into patient care. But the transition has been rocky — last quarter, Walgreens slashed its full-year profit forecast. The stock has lost half its value since she took over in March 2021.

Rosalind Brewer

Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg