Dive Brief:

• Chewy Inc. CFO David Reeder will depart the company in several months in order to take on a CEO position in the semiconductor industry, the online pet retailer said in a Monday press release and securities filing.
• Reeder will depart the pet retailer at an undetermined date, according to the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, he will remain in his role as finance chief through the company’s next earnings report in June, when Chewy is set to report results for its fiscal Q1 of 2025, CEO Sumit Singh said in a statement included in the release. Reeder will also “assist with an orderly transition” as the company begins a search for his successor, Singh said.
• The Plantation, Florida-based company did not name the semiconductor firm Reeder will be heading as CEO. The move is a return to familiar grounds for the CFO. Prior to taking on the top financial seat for Chewy in February 2024, Reeder served as finance chief for semiconductor manufacturing company GlobalFoundries. His past experience also includes serving in various CEO, CFO and executive roles for companies including Tower Hill Insurance, Lexmark, and EFI, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

Dive Insight:

Reeder’s departure after just a little over a year in the CFO seat follows after the pet retailer reported rising active customer numbers and net sales for its full-year 2024, despite its stock value wobbling after catching the attention of “meme stock” trader, Keith Gill. Gill — also known as Roaring Kitty — became Chewy’s third-largest shareholder last July, amassing a 6.6% stake in the company before offloading all of his shares in the online pet retailer in October, AP News reported at the time.

Gill was a key player in the GameStop 2021 short squeeze, with the trader expressing his belief that GameStop’s then-chairman Ryan Cohen, would be able to modernize the company, AP reported. Cohen, who currently serves as GameStop’s chairman and CEO, co-founded Chewy in 2011 before selling the company in 2017 for $3.3 billion, according to a 2023 report by Business Insider announcing his appointment to GameStop’s CEO seat.  

For its full-year 2024, Chewy reported a 6% YoY jump in net sales to reach $11.8 billion, according to its earnings presentation. Its sales were supported by strong active customer growth, with Chewy ending the year with 20.5 million active customers — "marking our first year-over-year growth in eight quarters,” CEO Singh said during the company’s earnings call according to a transcript.

In the Monday statement included in the press release, Singh credited Reeder’s “contributions during his time at Chewy, and thanked the CFO “for his leadership as we advanced our strategic, long-term growth initiatives.” The company is also reaffirming its guidance for its Q1 2025, Singh said, which Chewy is expected to report on June 11.

For the quarter, the retailer is anticipating net sales between $3.06 billion to $3.09 billion, which would represent between 6% to 7% growth year-over-year, according to its 2024 full-year earnings presentation published in March.  

Chewy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.