Justin Matthew King,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 17 May 1961) is an English businessman. King served as the CEO of

J Sainsbury plc J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...

, parent company of the supermarket chain Sainsbury's, for ten years before stepping down in July 2014. King was previously Director of Food at

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

and has held senior positions at

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

. King was involved in the introduction of

Häagen-Dazs Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York, in 1960. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, Ne ...

ice cream to the UK and has worked for Pepsi-Cola International and

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

Early life

Raised in

Dorridge Dorridge is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), England. Historically part of the historic counties of England, historic county of Warwickshire, the village is encompassed within the electoral wa ...

just outside

Solihull Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

, the son of a petrochemical company salesman, he was schooled at Tudor Grange Grammar School (grammar school which became a comprehensive whilst he attended) in Solihull. King undertook a degree in Business Administration at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, graduating in 1983. In 2009 he was also awarded an Honorary DBA (Doctor of Business Administration) from the University of Bath.

Career

After graduating, King went to work for

, becoming production shift manager on

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

chocolate. King joined

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

from 1989 being based in the Middle East, then moved to

Grand Metropolitan Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...

in 1990, where he helped launch

ice-cream in the UK as managing director. He moved to

in 1994 and became managing director of the hypermarkets division. King moved to

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

in 2001, where he managed the M & S food division.

Sainsbury's

King joined Sainsbury's on 29 March 2004, and was seen as the company's last chance to win back market share from its rivals and remain independent – the previous CEO,

Sir Peter Davis Sir Peter John Davis (born 23 December 1941) is a British businessman, who was, from 2000 to 2004, the CEO of J Sainsbury plc, which operates the UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's. Davis was born in Cheshire on 23 December 1941, the son of John ...

, failed to halt the supermarket's slide in market position despite a £3 billion investment in infrastructure. He was offered £675,000 a year salary. King's annual salary at Sainsbury's was £900,000, coupled with a bonus package between £3-£6million annually. Shortly after joining Sainsbury's, King authorised the removal of the Colleague Christmas Bonus award. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' reported: "The new chief executive of ailing supermarket chain J Sainsbury ran into his first controversy yesterday as it emerged that he has been awarded free shares worth more than £500,000 in the same week as he has axed the £100 Christmas bonus paid to staff." The removal of the bonus was a contentious issue, given its consistent payment for 25 years and also given that this was the year

received disputed bonus payments. In October 2004 King launched his recovery programme for the company under the banner "Making Sainsbury's Great Again". In January 2008 Sainsbury's announced twelve consecutive quarters of sales growth and achieved its target to grow sales by £2.5 billion, 3 months ahead of schedule. In September 2005 in an interview with ''

'' King discussed the dominance of principal rival Tesco. While steering clear of calls for a

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

inquiry into the No.1 UK supermarket, King did call for changes in planning laws to prevent Tesco from achieving a 40% market share. As of 2005 Tesco had more potential development projects than that of Sainsbury,

and

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...

combined. King also criticised Tesco CEO

Terry Leahy Sir Terence Patrick "Terry" Leahy (born 28 February 1956) is a British businessman, previously the CEO of Tesco, the largest British retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. He now lives in Cuffley, Hertfordsh ...

for questioning the accuracy of

Taylor Nelson Sofres Kantar TNS is a global market research and market information group with offices in over 80 countries. Formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, the firm was acquired by WPP Group for £1.6 billion in ...

market data. Leahy has argued that TNS overestimates the size of his company's market share. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,Mike Coupe Michael Andrew Coupe (born 26 September 1960) is a British businessman who was the CEO of J Sainsbury plc, parent company of the supermarket chain Sainsbury's, from July 2014 until the end of May 2020. Early life Coupe was born in Watford, Her ...

being announced as his successor.

Manor Racing

In March 2015, King was appointed interim chairman of the Manor Marussia F1 Team later

Manor Racing Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT or Pertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The team originally started racing in 2010 un ...

Personal life

He lives in the village of

Harbury Harbury is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. It is about west-southwest of Southam and about southeast of Royal Leamington Spa. The parish includes the hamlet of Deppers Bridge. The 2011 C ...

, just south of

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

, Warwickshire. A self-admitted petrol-head, King traded his

Maserati Quattroporte The Maserati Quattroporte () is a four-door full-size luxury sports sedan produced by Italian automobile manufacturer Maserati. The name translated from Italian means "four doors". The car is currently in its sixth generation, with the first g ...

for a Lexus LS600h L in March 2008 on environmental grounds. King is an ambassador for

The Scout Association The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was for ...

. In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from

Bournemouth University Bournemouth University is a public university in Bournemouth, England, with its main campus situated in neighbouring Poole. The university was founded in 1992; however, the origins of its predecessor date back to the early 1900s. The univer ...

. In April 2011, King gave half his shares in Sainsbury's to his wife Claire for "financial planning purposes". She divorced him three months later, after 21 years of marriage. Their son

Jordan King Jordan King (born 26 February 1994 in Warwick) is a British racing driver from Harbury, Warwickshire who last competed in the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship. He is currently a reserve and development driver for the Mahindra Form ...

is a

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

, who competed in

Formula Three Formula Three, also called Formula 3, abbreviated as F3, is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One driv ...

and in

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...

until moving to the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

for 2018.

References

Notes

*Guardian Unlimited. Sainsbury's chief opens up a new front in the store wars ''Retrieved 26 September 2005'' *BBC Business Online. Sainsbury's 'us and them' bonuses ''reported 21 May 2004'' *Guardian Unlimited. Sainsbury's chief gets £0.5m as he cuts staff's Christmas bonus ''reported 22 May 2004''

External links

Sainsbury's Corporate Website

Sainsbury's Supermarkets Homepage

News items

Profile: Sainsbury's chief Justin King, by Jorn Madslien, BBC News, January 4 2005

''Times'' article June 25 2006

''Spectator'' January 17 2007 article

Lexus hybrid woos Sainsbury's chief, by Jorn Madslien, BBC News, March 18 2008

Video clips

Jenny Scott talks to him on HARDtalk in January 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Justin 1961 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bath British businesspeople in retailing Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English chief executives Formula One people People from Solihull People from Stepney Sainsbury's people