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Rent-A-Center CEO Steps Down As Retailer Mulls Options

Rent-A-Center has named former President and COO Mitchell Fadel as CEO following the resignation of company founder Mark Speese. The executive changes occur as the rent-to-own retailer continues a “process to explore strategic and financial alternatives” as it considers “a full range of options focused on maximizing shareholder value.”

The retailer faces a somewhat uncertain future. For Q3, which ended Oct. 30, 2017, total revenues were $644 million, down from $693.9 million for the same period the previous year. Net losses were $12.6 million, compared to net earnings of $6.2 million in Q3 of 2016.

Additionally, this entire retail sector has been criticized by consumer advocates who maintain that the leases on furniture and other big-ticket items end up costing consumers more than traditional retail list prices.

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Speese had stepped back into the CEO role in January 2017 on an interim basis after Robert Davis, who replaced then-retiring Speese in 2014, himself resigned. The company removed the interim tag from his title in April. Speese was a one-time employee who founded his own rent-to-own company in 1986, which ultimately acquired Rent-A-Center.

Fadel was most recently President of U.S. Pawn at EZCORP, a leading provider of pawn loans in the U.S. and Mexico. Prior to that he spent 30 years in various positions at Rent-A-Center.

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