Ocado chief executive Tim Steiner will leave the FTSE 250 business he co-founded, following a succession plan engineered by chairman Adam Warby.
The company confirmed on Monday that Steiner will depart at the start of its 2028 financial year, ending more than two decades at the helm.
Steiner jointly founded the online shopping and warehouse automation group in 2000 and led its stock market debut in 2010.
Warby, who formerly led headhunter Heidrick and Struggles, has already approached Niklas Heuveldop, chief executive of Vonage, a subsidiary of Swedish telecoms firm Ericsson, as a potential replacement.
The succession push met resistance from some shareholders, who called for Warby himself to resign, but the chairman’s position on the board is understood to be secure.
Ocado said Steiner “remains fully committed to driving the Company’s strategy, operations and growth initiatives” for the remainder of his tenure as chief executive.
The company added that Steiner will “transition into a founder role” after leaving his post, providing “strategic guidance, deep market expertise and support” to its board and management.
Steiner is also committed to returning Ocado to a positive cash flow position before his departure, according to reports.
Ocado expects to appoint a successor before December 2027, when its next financial year begins, giving the board roughly 18 months to complete the search.
The leadership dispute unfolded against a backdrop of severe share price weakness, with Ocado stock having shed around 90 per cent of its value over the previous five years.
Shares debuted at 180p and surged to highs of more than 2,000p in 2021, but have since fallen back to levels last seen at the time of the company’s original float more than 15 years ago.
In recent years, Ocado repositioned itself away from pure grocery retail, focusing instead on providing robotic warehouse technology to major retailers and supermarkets around the world.
That strategy suffered a significant blow in November when US partner Kroger announced the closure of three warehouses operating Ocado’s equipment, undermining confidence in the company’s growth model.
In February, Ocado shares fell 10 per cent after the group warned of “significant” job cuts and said it was actively seeking new partners to replace Kroger’s lost business.
Steiner, who holds a two per cent stake in Ocado, originally founded the group alongside two former Goldman Sachs colleagues as an online grocer before steering the company towards its technology-focused identity.