Lululemon Athletica Inc. installed former Nike executive Heidi O’Neill as chief executive on Monday, handing her a company whose shares have fallen to an eight-year low and whose best-known individual shareholder, Vancouver billionaire Chip Wilson, spent much of 2026 publicly pressing its board for change.
O’Neill’s first day, Sept. 8, came five days after the athletic apparel retailer cut its full-year outlook for the third time this year. Lululemon reported second-quarter revenue of US$2.42 billion, down four per cent and below the roughly US$2.46 billion analysts had expected, and lowered its fiscal 2026 revenue guidance to a range of US$10.35 billion to US$10.50 billion from a previous US$11.0 billion to US$11.15 billion. Earnings-per-share guidance was reduced to US$9.48 to US$9.73 from US$10.95 to US$11.15. Management attributed the revision to softer store traffic, a weaker customer response to new product, heavier markdown pressure and higher spending, according to the company’s Sept. 3 results and Bloomberg’s reporting on the release.
The market reaction was severe. Shares fell roughly 18 per cent after the announcement, slipping below US$100 and touching their lowest level in about eight years, Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance reported. Americas revenue declined eight per cent in the quarter and comparable sales fell nine per cent.
Wilson founded Lululemon in Vancouver in 1998 and remains its highest-profile individual investor. His most recent Schedule 13D/A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reaffirms a holding of about 8.7 per cent of the company’s outstanding common stock, a position worth roughly US$1 billion at recent prices. Forbes’ 2026 World’s Billionaires List valued Wilson at US$6.5 billion and ranked him 645th globally, down from the US$6.8 billion the magazine assigned him in both 2024 and 2025. Forbes attributes the larger share of his fortune not to Lululemon but to a stake of close to 18 per cent in Finnish sportswear group Amer Sports, the parent of Salomon and Arc’teryx.
Wilson spent the first half of the year in an open fight with the board he once chaired. He launched a proxy contest arguing that Lululemon’s directors lacked the creative leadership the business needed, and the company answered publicly in May, calling his position misguided and outdated, CNBC reported at the time. The two sides settled later that month. Two of Wilson’s nominees joined the board, and Wilson accepted an 18-month standstill and a non-disparagement clause barring him from criticizing the company publicly.
That agreement leaves the founder without his usual megaphone at the moment his stake is under the most pressure it has faced in years. O’Neill, who spent decades at Nike Inc. before joining, inherits declining comparable sales, softening demand for new product and a share price that has given back most of a decade of gains. Neither Lululemon nor Wilson has commented publicly on the guidance cut beyond the company’s Sept. 3 release.
Figures cited are as reported by Forbes’ 2026 World’s Billionaires List, Lululemon’s own quarterly disclosure and SEC filings, and reporting by Bloomberg, CNBC and Yahoo Finance. The Canadian Billionaire Index does not independently estimate net worth.
