Cookies on the Business Insider India website

Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.

You Can't Understand Just How Big The Tesco Disaster Is Until You See How It Once Dominated Britain

Mike BirdOct 23, 2014, 22:18 IST

British grocery chain Tesco is the country's biggest supermarket, Europe's largest private employer, and world's second-largest retailer - second only to Walmart.

And it's a total basket case.

After revealing in late September that it overstated profits by £250 million, the grocer revised that number upward today to £263 million, culminating in the resignation of Tesco's chairman, Sir Richard Broadbent.

Tesco's new CEO Dave Lewis has been left to pick up the pieces, while at the same time dealing with a separate but equally massive problem: disastrous global sales results. The share price has dropped by more than half in the last 12 months.

So what went wrong?