Burberry CEO joins Apple to lead retail strategy

The world’s most stylish tech brand upped its game this week as Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, announced plans to leave the fashion label and join Apple in a newly created position, as a senior vice president and member of the executive team reporting to CEO Tim Cook.

Ahrendts will be in charge of the strategic direction, expansion and operation of both Apple retail and online stores. She will join Apple in the spring and will be replaced at Burberry by chief creative officer Christopher Bailey.

The move comes just three months after Apple recruited Paul Deneve, former chief executive of Yves Saint Laurent, for a special projects role.

In related news the Irish government is looking to close a loophole that has allowed Apple to shelter a reported $40bn from taxation by declaring subsidiaries registered in the country as not tax resident anywhere.

Ireland’s finance minister Michael Noonan has said that he plans to make it illegal for a company registered in Ireland to have no tax domicile anywhere. However, companies will still be able to nominate zero tax jurisdictions such as Bermuda as their tax residency, so the moves are unlikely to make much difference in the near term.