Avon has hired a new boss to carry out a long-overdue makeover of the company.
The struggling door-to-door cosmetics giant tapped as its new CEO Sherilyn McCoy, a senior exec at Johnson & Johnson, to replace Andrea Jung, whose 13-year tenure at the top of Avon lately has been marred by chaos.
McCoy — a Princeton-educated manager who ranks No. 10 on Fortune’s “Most Powerful Women” list — will be faced with cleaning up messes, including an overseas bribery probe and technology glitches that short-circuited Avon’s business in Brazil last year.
As vice chairman at J&J, 53-year-old McCoy most recently ran businesses, including Neutrogena and Lubriderm, totaling about three times the size of Avon, which last year had $11.3 billion in revenue.
Still, McCoy wasn’t able to eliminate some problems she inherited at J&J, including manufacturing issues that led to a recall of the entire US supply of infant Tylenol.
Avon shares yesterday fell 73 cents, or 3.1 percent, to $22.69, as hopes for a possible buyout of the company were diminished.
Last week, New York fragrance maker Coty offered $10 billion, or $23.25 a share, to acquire Avon, proposing to combine the companies’ operations into a direct-marketing powerhouse for cosmetics, fragrances and skin-care products.
Coty, which said it won’t go hostile with its bid, couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.
“We think Avon’s board is making a definitive statement on their view that it can turn around its business without the help of an outside suitor,” Barclays analyst Lauren Lieberman said.
