Tesco chief quits post after 14 years

Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy is to step down next March after 14 years leading Britain’s biggest supermarket, it was announced today.

Mr Leahy is to be succeeded in the top job by international and IT director Philip Clarke, who has worked at Tesco throughout his career, having first started as a part-time assistant in 1974.

The chain’s outgoing boss, who will be 55 when he retires in March 2011, said he joined the group with a plan to make Tesco number one in the UK and to build long-term growth by expanding into non-food and internationally.

He added: “I feel my work is almost complete.”