How Rite Aid Is Emerging from Bankruptcy with New Direction, CEO

The drugstore chain will be a "significantly transformed, stronger and more efficient company."

Rite Aid has exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy by completing its financial restructuring as it aims to chart a renewed path forward.

That journey will be taken as a private company with refreshed leadership after it shed debt and appointed Matt Schroeder as the new CEO, Rite Aid announced.

As part of its restructuring, the Philadelphia-based drugstore retailer slashed around $2 billion of total debt while receiving approximately $2.5 billion in exit financing.

The company filed for bankruptcy last October and went on to shut down hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores.

“Emergence is a pivotal moment in Rite Aid’s history, enabling it to move forward as a significantly transformed, stronger and more efficient company,” Jeffrey Stein, Rite Aid CEO and chief restructuring officer, said in a statement.

Stein, who was given both roles to guide the company through the restructuring process, will step down and give way to Schroeder, the current CFO.

After joining Rite Aid in 2000, Schroeder has served as its vice president of financial accounting and in other roles before becoming the CFO in March 2019.

He follows Stein, Elizabeth Burr, and Heyward Donigan to become the organization’s fourth CEO since 2023 and its ninth overall since the company was founded in 1962.

“Matt has served in various leadership positions during his tenure at Rite Aid and has a deep understanding of all aspects of our business,” Bruce Bodaken, chair of Rite Aid’s board of directors during its Chapter 11 process, said in a statement. “He has shown outstanding leadership through this process and is an excellent fit for the Company as it advances as a stronger organization.”