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Tim Barry, longtime CEO of VillageMD, the primary care subsidiary of Walgreens, has stepped down.
The move comes after a series of financial challenges at VillageMD that hit the bottom line of its parent company in what has been a difficult time for retail pharmacies.
Barry founded VillageMD back in 2013, which Walgreens acquired for $5.2 billion in 2021. He will be replaced by interim CEO Jim Murray, who joined as president and COO in April, according to a statement shared with Healthcare Brew. Murray previously served as president and COO of Magellan Health, a behavioral health management company that Centene acquired in 2022, and as EVP and COO of insurer Humana.
A rough year. In March, Walgreens took a $5.8 billion impairment charge on VillageMD, and a net loss of $5.9 billion due to the charge, according to its Q2 earnings.
Walgreens announced in June on its Q3 earnings call that it planned to close 25% of its ~8,600 stores and posted a $13.1 billion operating loss for the first nine months of the fiscal year. In August, Walgreens wrote in an SEC filing that it was considering selling VillageMD.
By its Q4 earnings posted on October 15, Walgreens reported a $3 billion loss for the quarter and a total net loss of $8.6 billion for the entire year.