Hand-picked! Dixons boss poached to run £12.6bn Apple empire
Headhunted: John Browett will lead Apple's global retail operation after being poached from Dixons
Dixons Chief Executive John Browett, credited with reviving the British electronics retailer, has been poached by Apple after becoming their head of world retail operation.
The well-regarded industry executive, who turned around the fortunes of the high street retailer, will lead the iPad maker's global retail expansion in his new £400,000 post.
The surprise move by Apple yesterday emerged as another British high street name appointed an American boss in a bid to revive its fortunes.
Argos will appoint John Walden as their chief executive today after setting him the task of invigorating a company that has seen sales fall since 2008.
Browett, Dixons' CEO since 2007, was previously chief executive of Tesco Plc's successful online shopping site.
It is thought he was headhunted by Apple after being lured with a place on the board as senior vice-president for retail, a salary which could reach £400,000, and the possibility of millions of dollars of stock options.
He will fill a critical post once held by Ron Johnson, another outsider who left Target Corp to join Apple in 2000.
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He will oversee Apple's retail strategy and the expansion of its stores around the world, from the current total of around 300.
The executive, credited with freshening Dixons' image with innovative marketing - including an advertising campaign featuring Darth Vader - joins Apple as the Silicon Valley giant eyes markets abroad to sustain its growth.
Revival: Mr Browett is credited with turning around the fortunes of Dixons by placing more focus on the customer experience
Mr Browett will oversee the expansion of Apple's 300 retail stores worldwide in his new role
RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky said: 'An outsider with international experience will help guide Apple's global expansion strategy.
'His experience includes localizing stores for multiple countries.'
Dixons, which also runs Elkjop in Nordic countries, UniEuro in Italy and Kotsovolos in Greece, said Sebastian James would succeed Browett.
New Argos chief John Walden, meanwhile, will attempt to lead the Argos revival after making his name selling groceries online.
FROM HIGH STREET TO APPLE HIGH-FLIER
Dixons
1937
Hemel Hempstead
PC World, Currys, Elkjop (norway)
40,000
£8billion
Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Founded
HQ
Brands
Staff
Turnover
First store
Apple
1976
Cupertino, California
iPhone, iPad,
iPad, Mac
60,000 plus
£68.5billion
Tysons Corner, Virginia, and Glendale, California
Mr Walden, 52, was most recently chief executive at Activeion Cleaning Solutions, and has previously launched the online arm of Best Buy, the world's largest electricals chain.
Store bosses are hoping the American will revive Argos's online presence, as well as its performance on the high street.
Argos has sales of £4 billion, significantly more than that of sister chain Homebase.
The catalogue store generates 70 per cent of group turnover for Home Retail, its parent company.
Apple's retail success is likely to keep growing over the next few quarters as huge numbers of consumers continue to snap up the company's popular iPhones and iPads.
Invigorated: The new chief exec at Argos has been tasked with reviving the store's fortunes on the high street and online
Apple sold 37 million iPhones and more than 15 million iPads during the last quarter, and its cash balance swelled to nearly $100 billion by the end of 2011.
Browett's appointment has sparked speculation in some quarters that Apple may be planning a push in its retail operations in Europe, where his expertise is greatest.
In October, Best Buy abandoned plans for a chain of European megastores, while Kesa Electricals, Europe's No. 3 player, effectively paid a bidder to take the British money-losing Comet chain off its hands.
Both companies, as well as Home Retail's Argos business, have struggled to compete with Dixons in the UK as Browett revamped stores, focused on more popular megastores and improved product ranges with a mantra of improving the shopping trip for customers.
Shares of Dixons Retail, Europe's second-largest electronics retailer and owner of the Currys and PC World chains in Britain, fell on Tuesday following the news that Browett would leave in April to join the world's leading smartphone maker as senior vice president of retail, based in California.
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