Former Tesco boss to take charge of troubled global drinks firm Diageo

The executive credited with steering Tesco out of the worst financial crisis in its history has been handed the top job at the struggling Guinness maker, Diageo.

- Julia Kollewe

On 1 January, Sir Dave Lewis will become the chief executive of the FTSE 100 drinks company, whose shares have fallen by a third this year.

Lewis ran Tesco from 2014 to 2020 and previously spent nearly three decades at the Marmite maker, Unilever. He revived Britain’s biggest supermarket chain after revealing an accounting scandal that threatened the future of the business.

His appointment marks a significant coup for the drinks maker, which owns more than 200 brands including Johnnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka, Baileys Irish Cream and Don Julio tequila.

He replaces Debra Crew, a former captain in US military intelligence who stepped down as the Diageo chief in July after a rocky two-year tenure, with investors unhappy about the company’s lacklustre performance.

Nik Jhangiani, the former chief financial officer who had been tipped as a frontrunner for the permanent job, will continue to lead the business on an interim basis until the end of the year, and then return to his CFO role.