American Apparel Ousts Controversial Founder for Alleged Misconduct Dov Charney has been removed from his posts as chairman, president and CEO of the company he founded.
By Jason Fell
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Dov Charney's wild ride as founder and CEO of clothing giant American Apparel appears to be at an end. The company's board of directors has voted to replace Charney as chairman and notified him of its intent to terminate him as president and CEO.
In a statement released last night, American Apparel said Charney's dismissal "grew out of an ongoing investigation into alleged misconduct." No other details about the situation were released.
The board said it appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer John Luttrell as interim CEO. Board members Allan Mayer and David Danziger were appointed co-chairmen.
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Charney's time atop his clothing company was plagued by controversy. In 2009, the company came under fire for hiring illegal immigrants to work its Los Angeles factory. Charney himself has been accused of sexually harassing female employees (though some of those claims were thrown out) and of diving at and then choking a male employee before rubbing dirt in his face.
Born in Montreal, Charney started making his own T-shirts in 1989 during his second year attending Tufts University in Massachusetts. Having a deep interest in American history and culture, Charney later called his clothing company American Apparel. The company went public in 2007.
At market close yesterday, American Apparel stock was trading at about 64 cents per share. The stock was trading about 25 percent higher today in premarket trading.
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