The breach of millions of consumer records cost Target President/CEO Gregg Steinhafel his job.
The company announced on May 5 that Steinhafel had stepped down immediately from the CEO position, as well as from being chairman of the company's board.
"I love this company," Steinhafel wrote in May 5 letter the company posted on its website, "and remain incredibly confident in the more than 360,000 team members who deliver on the high standard of our brand promise every day. Their deep devotion to our guests will propel Target's success now and into the future," he wrote.
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Target revealed on Dec. 19 that a data breach compromised 40 million debit and credit card accounts between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15. Then on Jan. 10, the company said hackers also stole names, phone numbers as well as email and mailing addresses from as many as 70 million customers.
When the count is finalized, Target's breach may eclipse the biggest known data breach at a retailer, 2007′s TJX breach, which affected 90 million records.
Analysts said the company's board has been meeting with Steinhafel monthly instead of quarterly to oversee Target's response to the breach, and Target reported to the Security and Exchange Commission in February that its fourth-quarter profit fell 46%, a decline of 5.3% year over year, because the breach scared off customers.
Target, based in Minneapolis, said Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan will serve as interim president and CEO. Roxanne S. Austin, a member of Target's board, has been made interim board chair. Both will serve in those roles until permanent replacements are named, the company said, adding that Steinhafel will serve in an advisory capacity during the transition.
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