Walmart, parent company to Asda, has confirmed Bond will be leaving his role as president and chief executive and become chairman of Asda’s Executive Committee.
A hunt for Bond's successor to lead the UK supermarket is now underway with Bond being responsible for day-to-day management in the interim.
Bond, who has worked at the retailer for 16 years, becoming chief executive in 2005, has recently led the retailer to ‘its best-ever year' in 2009. Asda also said it has recorded 15 straight quarters of market outperformance, beating all its sales and profit targets.
A strong favourite for the position could be Rick Bendel, Wal-Mart's international marketing officer outside of the United States. Asda has a history of appointing its marketing directors to the top spot, with Bond himself a former corporate marketing director at Asda.
Bendel was promoted to the position from chief marketing officer at Asda In May 2009 and in addition to his UK duties, is responsible for Wal-Mart's marketing strategy in 14 countries, including Canada, Brazil and China.
Bendel joined Asda in 2006 having previously been chief operating officer at Publicis, which then held the Asda ad account. The £75m account is now held by Saatchi & Saatchi.
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