Christopher Bailey is quitting Burberry, the 46-year-old fashion designer is stepping down as chief creative officer to ‘pursue new creative projects’ after he was ousted from his role of chief executive earlier this year.
After joining from Gucci in 2001, Mr Bailey worked with former chief executives Rose Marie Bravo and Angela Ahrendts to make Burberry’s camel, red and black checkdesigns into must-haves items for fashionistas around the world.
Bailey will leave with a payout of up to £13million made up from a mixture of salary, bonus and incentive allowances.
He will continue to receive his £1.1million salary and £440,000 cash allowance until the end of next year and will also be entitled to a bonus for the year to the end of March which could be worth up to £2.2million.
However, his tenure as chief executive, was less successful. In leaving, he is giving up his right to shares worth £16m, some of which he was granted when he became chief executive in 2014.
The company is in the middle of a cost-saving drive and wants to save at least £100m by 2019, it was said.
Mr Bailey’s exit will allow chief executive Marco Gobbetti, who joined from upmarket label Celine last year, to revamp Burberry’s creative direction as well as its operations, analysts said.
