Dive Brief:
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Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. CEO Mike Duke, who was chief executive from 2009 to last February, has joined the Carlyle Group as a retail and consumer expert.
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Washington, DC-based Carlyle Group is an asset management firm founded in 1987 that has become known for bringing in heavy hitters from government and the private sector.
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Duke will remain on Wal-Mart’s board as an operating executive.
Dive Insight:
Duke is apparently close friends with Carlyle co-founder and co-CEO David Rubenstein, and that friendship reportedly led to this gig. The Carlyle Group is a powerful and storied firm that counts among its ranks the likes of George H.W. Bush, former Reagan chief of staff and Bush Secretary of State James Baker III, and former U.K. Prime Minister John Major.
The firm has also suffered high-profile controversies, including a collusion case it settled last year, and is the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. Above all, it’s known as a place where big players do business, and now Mike Duke is one of them.
