H&M gave the founder's grandson the CEO job and kept expanding

In February 2009 H&M named Karl-Johan Persson, the 34-year-old son of chairman Stefan Persson and grandson of founder Erling Persson, to replace Rolf Eriksen as CEO from July. The group was large but entering a recession handover.

The decision was not only dynastic. Karl-Johan had been responsible for expansion and brand development, while H&M had just reported 2008 sales of SEK104.04 billion and net profit of SEK15.29 billion. The advice from his father and the outgoing CEO was simple: hold costs.

The succession kept the family close to strategy while letting a younger leader run global retail and online expansion. In 2020 he moved up to chair as another professional CEO took over, completing the third-generation handoff.

The handover followed 2008 sales of SEK104.04B and profit of SEK15.29B; H&M later operated in 80-plus markets.

The successor had already worked on expansion and brand development rather than arriving only as an heir.

The recession made cost discipline a clear operating mandate from day one.

Keeping family control at chair and CEO level reassured owners while the store and online footprint widened.

A young family successor is less risky when the board gives him a clear cost discipline brief and a platform already built for repeat expansion.

Karl-Johan Persson's CEO period carried H&M through more markets, more formats and deeper online integration. By the time he became chair in 2020, the third-generation succession had become the normal governance structure rather than a one-off gamble.