Founders are rarely asked to plan their own exit while the thing they built is still being tested. Tim Steiner has been. Ocado, the company he co-founded in 2000 as an online grocer, has become a seller of warehouse robotics to other supermarkets. That model is now being tested by its biggest customer, and Steiner’s replacement is being arranged in public.
From bond trading to groceries
Ocado was set up in 2000 by Steiner, Jonathan Faiman and Jason Gissing, all former Goldman Sachs bankers, according to Wikipedia’s account and a Retail Insider profile. Steiner had joined Goldman in 1992 as a bond trader. Faiman left before Ocado’s 2010 London flotation and Gissing in 2014; Steiner stayed as chief executive.
InternetRetailing traces what came next: a pure-play online grocer, a deal in 2013 to supply e-commerce technology to Morrisons, a major agreement with Kroger in 2018, and in 2019 a £750 million joint venture with Marks & Spencer for the UK retail arm. The company’s pitch shifted from selling groceries to selling the system that picks them. Bloomberg notes that Steiner once billed Ocado as the “Tesla of grocery.”
The Kroger problem
The model depends on partners building large, automated customer fulfilment centres. In November 2025 Kroger said it would close three of them. On December 5, 2025, Ocado told the London Stock Exchange that Kroger would pay a one-off $350 million, due in January 2026, mainly in place of future capacity fees for those sites. Kroger also decided not to proceed with a planned site in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Ocado said the three closures would cut fiscal 2026 fee revenue by about $50 million. Shares had already fallen 17% on November 18, according to AJ Bell’s report.
Steiner’s response in the announcement was measured: “We remain excited about the opportunity for Ocado’s evolving products in the US market.” Kroger’s exclusivity ended at the close of 2025, Grocery Dive reports, and Ocado has since talked to other US grocers.
A succession set by the chairman
On July 6, 2026, Ocado said Steiner would remain chief executive through fiscal 2027 and until a successor is in place, expected around the start of fiscal 2028 (December 2027). He then becomes a “founder,” advising the board, management and customers into 2029, which Grocery Dive says the company described as reflecting his “longstanding commitment to Ocado.”
The path there was not smooth. Bloomberg reported that chairman Adam Warby drove the move to speed up succession planning, and that it drew a backlash from shareholders who wanted Steiner kept on. InternetRetailing, citing the Financial Times, says investors holding a quarter of the shares backed Warby’s removal, while investors who backed Steiner accepted the need for succession but wanted a longer timeline. Ocado did not name a successor. Bernstein analyst William Woods told Bloomberg it “will be challenging to replace the founder and driving visionary of the business.”
Retail Gazette reported on July 17 that Steiner said he had “no intention of being a puppet master and controlling everybody,” and would back the incoming chief executive.
What the numbers say
Ocado’s half-year results, which we opened directly, cover the six months to May 31, 2026. Revenue was £1,037.0 million and statutory profit before tax £17.1 million. Both include one-off effects from the Kroger and Sobeys closures; excluding them, revenue was £684 million, up 1%. Cash was £765 million, with total liquidity of £1.1 billion. Ocado Retail, the M&S joint venture, grew revenue 15%.
Steiner said: “we will achieve positive cash flow in the second half of the year and be full-year cash flow positive in FY27.” Retail Gazette reported that the shares fell almost 15% on the day. Bloomberg puts them down more than 90% from the pandemic-era peak.
What to take from it
- A pivot can outlast its first customer. Ocado’s value now rests on technology that grocers license, not groceries it sells. One customer’s reset showed how concentrated that is.
- Founders have a succession deadline, whether or not they set it. Steiner’s departure date was shaped by a board and an investor base with their own views.
- Cash flow is the promise on the table. Positive cash flow in FY27 is the number Steiner has staked his final stretch on.
Related founders
- Eric Baker Was Fired From StubHub, Then Bought It Back — another founder whose company moved on without him.
- Ben Francis Bought Back His Gymshark Stake — a British founder renegotiating control.
- Michael Truell and the $60 Billion Cursor Deal — a founder on the other side of a large exit.
Ocado’s founding by Steiner, Faiman and Gissing, and Steiner’s Goldman background, are per Wikipedia and Retail Insider (June 2019). Corporate history and the Financial Times shareholder detail are per InternetRetailing (Amanda Vlietstra, July 6, 2026). The succession terms are per Grocery Dive (July 7, 2026) and Bloomberg via Transport Topics (July 6, 2026), which also supplies the share-price moves, the “Tesla of grocery” line and the Woods quote. The Kroger payment, site details and Steiner’s US quote are per Ocado’s December 5, 2025 stock exchange announcement, opened directly; the November 18 share fall is per AJ Bell. Half-year figures and Steiner’s cash-flow quote are per Ocado’s 2026 half-year results page, opened directly; the “puppet master” quote and the share fall on results day are per Retail Gazette (July 17, 2026). Ocado had not named a successor at the time of writing. No portrait is used: a Creative Commons photograph of Steiner was not found.
