Warren Buffett has canned the CEO of Benjamin Moore — again.
In a surprise move, the billionaire investor has ousted a former restaurant exec that he tapped only last year to turn around the troubled paint company, The Post has learned.
Sources said employees were told Friday afternoon that Bob Merritt — a longtime Buffett lieutenant who had been credited previously with rehabilitating the Outback Steakhouse chain — has left Benjamin Moore.
Executives at Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, which has owned Benjamin Moore for more than a decade, called a Friday conference call to announce Merritt’s departure to workers, but didn’t give a reason, sources said.
The company confirmed in a statement late Friday that it is searching for a new CEO and expects to announce a replacement in the coming weeks.
The ouster — a rare move for Buffett, famous for the hands-off approach he typically takes with the companies he acquires — comes just 15 months after Buffett booted Benjamin Moore’s previous CEO, Denis Abrams.
As reported by The Post, Abrams had been blasted by critics for undermining Benjamin Moore’s century-old network of local dealers as he angled to maximize near-term profits.
“This is, without doubt, [Buffett’s] Achilles’ heel and an ongoing embarrassment,” according to a source close to the situation. “They’re on the hunt for yet another CEO, the third in less than a year and a half.”
Employees were surprised by Merritt’s ouster, as the exec internally had earned mostly good marks for cleaning up a mess left by Abrams, according to sources.
In particular, Merritt had sought to repair Benjamin Moore’s relationships with dealers, who in recent years have charged that the paint giant has strong-armed them into exclusive distribution agreements while milking them for cash.
In addition to drastically tightening terms on inventory financing, Benjamin Moore dealers have complained the company has demanded payments for marketing services that it never provided.