John Lewis: would ending staff ownership help the retailer, and is its boss’s strategy failing?

The chain’s mutual model was once hailed as a template, but now it needs cash amid hefty losses

Could breaking the staff-ownership model be the answer for the owner of John Lewis and Waitrose, which is considering bringing in outside investment of up to £2bn as a way to secure its future after reporting hefty losses?

The John Lewis Partnership has been owned by its employees since the 1920s, meaning they receive an annual bonus based on profits in a set-up that motivated staff and helped it expand into a stalwart of the British high street.