Surprise as Gap chief resigns

THE chief executive of clothing empire Gap has stunned Wall Street by unexpectedly resigning following investor calls for a drastic change in management.

Millard Drexler, 57, said in an interview on Tuesday night that the decision to go was his alone. 'I've been thinking about it for a long time. My passion is to grow things that are small until they are bigger.'

When Drexler joined Gap in 1983, it was a relatively unknown chain. But despite annual sales of £9.4bn, it has struggled to make headway in the last two years and the shares have lost two thirds of their value since hitting a high of £37 in February 2001.