Kohl’s, one of the largest department stores in the United States, is searching for a new CEO after firing its current one, Ashley Buchanan, who had been on the job since only Jan. 15, the company said Thursday.

The department store chain said Buchanan, 51, had “violated company policies by directing the company to engage in vendor transactions that involved undisclosed conflicts of interest.”

Buchanan’s termination, the company said, was “unrelated” to the performance of Kohl’s. Still, the abrupt departure of the CEO has come at a challenging time for the retailer, with sales falling and dampening interest from younger shoppers. The chain has not posted an increase in sales since late 2021.

No other employee was involved in the events leading up to Buchanan’s termination, the company said.

Buchanan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kohl’s hired Buchanan to be its CEO in November, when he held the same position at crafts retailer Michaels, a role he had since 2020.

The company discovered Buchanan’s violation after an investigation by an outside firm hired by Kohl’s. The company has appointed Michael J. Bender, director of its board, as interim CEO.

The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that Buchanan had directed the company to “conduct business with a vendor founded by an individual with whom Mr. Buchanan has a personal relationship on highly unusual terms favorable to the vendor.”

The filing said that same individual was also part of a consulting team with which the company had a multimillion-dollar agreement, at Buchanan’s direction.

Buchanan did not disclose the relationship, the filing said, as the company’s policy requires.

Buchanan was the third CEO at Kohl’s since 2018. Tom Kingsbury served as interim CEO after Michelle Gass left in December 2022 to run Levi Strauss & Co.

That year, Kohl’s said it was opening Sephora stores at all of its locations to bring more shoppers, specifically younger ones, into its mostly suburban stores. The company also has a partnership with Amazon, which allows customers to return packages at Kohl’s sites. Both initiatives were begun during Gass’ tenure to bring shoppers in.

More recently, the department store has been trying to improve its merchandise, adding more home decor options and making the Sephora locations within its stores a more central part of the strategy.

In the same news release that announced Buchanan’s termination, Kohl’s also released preliminary earnings expectations for the first quarter of the year. The expectations are on the same track the company has been on: falling sales and narrowing profit. The chain said it would release its full earnings May 29.

Neil Saunders, managing director for retail at GlobalData, a research and consulting firm, said Buchanan’s sudden departure was a blow to the company’s efforts to turn things around.

“While the sacking is not related to performance, it gives the impression that Kohl’s is in perpetual state of chaos and it raises some questions about the due diligence over his appointment,” he wrote in an email Thursday.