‘You don't borrow $2 billion for revenge': This CEO led a risky takeover of her former company—and fired her old boss

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Julia Stewart turned around two struggling brands, then combined them in a risky $2 billion acquisition — which was about more than settling old scores, she…

‘You don't borrow $2 billion for revenge': This CEO led a risky takeover of her former company—and fired her old bossThe Moment series, where highly successful people reveal the critical moment that changed the trajectory of their lives and careers, discussing what drove them to make the leap into the unknown.Stewart, 68, became IHOP's first-ever woman CEO in 2002. She held the position for 16 years, using a franchising business model to revitalize the chain.

Here, Stewart — currently CEO of Alurx, a wellness company she founded in 2020 — discusses rebounding from her biggest career disappointment, proving doubters wrong and weighing risk and revenge while steering a multibillion-dollar deal.Stewart: It took us five years to do everything we had done in three at Applebee's. We had some major work to do, with a much larger group of franchisees.. I rented out a hotel in Hawaii in 2006, and we all went out there and celebrated.

But you don't borrow that kind of money, and make a bet that large, unless you've done serious due diligence. You would never do this without doing an Armageddon strategy and vetting it six ways from Tuesday with your CFO. That was one of the most successful things I did when we joined the companies together. Now, you're consolidating distribution centers and SKUs. It's a big honkin' deal. Think about pork — we do it as baby back pork ribs at Applebee's and bacon at IHOP.How did it feel, on a personal level, to lead that deal?

 

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