Dive Brief:
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Bebe Stores Inc. Monday named Jim Wigget CEO and a board member, an indication that the company wants to keep the momentum it has achieved since naming him interim CEO this summer.
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Former CEO Steve Birkhold resigned in June after Bebe reported continuing losses.
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Before his summer appointment, Wigget, a longtime retail veteran and founder of the Jackson Hole Group consulting firm, was providing the struggling retailer with advice for five years.
Dive Insight:
Bebe has been struggling for a while now. The retailer hasn’t really recovered from the departure of creative director Neda Mashouf, who left after her 2007 divorce from president and controlling investor Manny Mashouf.
In September Ryan Drexler, president of private equity firm Consac LLC, urged the company to consider a sale or going private. The retailer’s share price rose on the news that Wigget would stay on.
