INTERVIEW - Migros CEO Irminger on his resignation: "It is better to stop too early than too late"

Migros CEO Mario Irminger has announced his resignation to make room for new momentum in the Group's restructuring. Despite a radical simplification of the cooperative structures and the sale of subsidiaries such as Hotelplan, he rejects reports of massive job cuts. The aim is to increase efficiency.

INTERVIEW - Migros CEO Irminger on his resignation: It is better to stop too early than too late

Zurich, October 30, 2026 – In a surprising move, Mario Irminger, the CEO of the Swiss retail giant Migros, has announced his resignation. After an intensive phase of strategic realignment and the divestment of loss-making subsidiaries such as the travel provider Hotelplan or the cosmetics subsidiary Mibelle, Irminger sees the right time for a change in leadership. Migros is in the midst of a historic restructuring aimed at radically simplifying the complex cooperative structures and strengthening the core business. Irminger justifies his departure by stating that a new phase of implementation now also requires fresh impulses in the group management.

The reorganization of Switzerland's largest private employer is a reaction to increasing margin pressure and competition from international discounters as well as online retail. The goal of the simplification is a more efficient management of the group, which is traditionally characterized by a federalist structure of regional cooperatives. Irminger decisively countered rumors of massive job cuts and clarified that figures circulating in the media about thousands of layoffs do not correspond to the facts. Nevertheless, the pressure for efficiency remains high, underlining the need to reduce administrative duplication and secure profitability in the long term.

Strategic Change and Leadership Management

For MBA graduates and aspiring executives, the Migros case provides a textbook example of change management in a highly complex environment. The restructuring of a traditionally organized cooperative company requires not only business acumen but also a high sensitivity to stakeholder interests. The strategic streamlining of the portfolio and the concentration on the food sector show how companies react under transformation pressure to maintain their competitiveness. Irminger's withdrawal also highlights a central theme of modern management curricula: the self-assessment of one's own role in the life cycle of a corporate transformation.

Significance for the Labor Market and Management Talent