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Lululemon Stumbles, Elliott Moves In With Bold Leadership Plan!

Elliott Investment Management has amassed a stake exceeding $1 billion in Lululemon Athletica, thrusting the activist investor into the center of the company’s leadership succession and strategic turnaround narrative. The news arrives on the heels of Lululemon’s announcement that CEO Calvin McDonald will step down in January, with the board initiating a leadership transition. Elliott, now one of the brand’s largest shareholders, is backing veteran retail executive Jane Nielsen—formerly CFO and COO at Ralph Lauren—as a potential replacement for McDonald. This push signals Elliott’s belief that fresh leadership could stabilize operations, restore brand equity, and reverse declining sales. Under McDonald’s tenure, annual sales tripled to over $10 billion, but the brand has more recently stumbled amid inventory pile-ups, discount-driven margin pressure, and critiques of losing its “cool” factor.