Business
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon to retire in January after nearly 12 years leading retailer
Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is retiring early next year, after overseeing the top U.S. retailer’s transformation into an e-commerce behemoth, the company said Friday in a filing.
The longtime CEO will be succeeded by John Furner, the Walmart U.S. CEO, on Feb. 1, according to the filing.
McMillon, who stepped into the top role at Walmart in February 2014, will officially retire as of Jan. 31. He will continue to serve as an executive officer of the company and be employed by Walmart as an advisor through Jan. 31, 2027.
Furner, 51, has been the CEO of Walmart’s U.S. business since 2019. In that role, he oversees more than 4,600 stores and the largest sector of the company. He started at the company in 1993 as an hourly associate.
Walmart Inc. President and CEO Doug McMillon delivers a keynote address during CES 2024 at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas on January 9, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ethan Miller | Getty Images
The announcement of the CEO transition comes only six days before the retailer is set to report quarterly earnings. Walmart shares were up 13% this year as of Thursday’s close, as the company grows its digital business and wins over more high-income shoppers.
For more than a decade, McMillon, 59, has led the retail giant and overseen the company’s growth as an e-commerce leader. He also oversaw the business during a tumultuous time marked by the Covid pandemic, supply chain disruptions, high inflation and tariff changes.
During his time leading the company, Walmart’s shares have risen more than 300%. The company’s stock closed Friday at $102.48, roughly flat.
Walmart stock since Feb. 1, 2014.
From hourly employees to CEOs
McMillon and Furner have had similar paths to the top role at Walmart. Both have spent about three decades at Walmart. They both began as hourly associates and moved up the ranks at the retail giant, serving in merchandising and operations roles. Both also served as chief executives of its warehouse club, Sam’s Club.
Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) announced that its Board of Directors has elected John Furner, 51, to succeed Doug McMillon, 59, as President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart Inc., effective February 1, 2026.
Courtesy: Walmart Inc.
In a statement, Walmart chairman Greg Penner described Furner as “the right leader to guide Walmart into the next chapter of our growth and transformation.”
“After starting as an hourly associate and being with us for over 30 years in a variety of leadership roles across all three of our operating segments, John understands every dimension of our business – from the sales floor to global strategy,” Penner added.
“Serving as Walmart’s CEO has been a great honor and I’m thankful to our Board and the Walton family for the opportunity,” McMillon said in a statement.
He said Furner’s “curiosity and digital acumen combined with a deep commitment to our people and culture will enable him to take us to the next level.”
Along with Walmart, big-box competitor Target is also poised to get a new leader in early 2026. Target announced last month that Michael Fiddelke, chief operating officer and former chief financial officer, will succeed longtime Target CEO Brian Cornell on Feb. 1.
Digital growth and workforce transformation
As the leader of Walmart, McMillon played an instrumental role in turning the nation’s largest grocer into an e-commerce giant and positioning the company to sell more advertisements and more discretionary merchandise, along with dozens of eggs and gallons of milk.
During his early years as CEO, McMillon greenlit the $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com in 2016, an e-commerce startup that Walmart hoped would fuel digital growth and give it credibility as it tried to fight back against Amazon’s meteoric rise.
The startup’s acquisition — particularly its steep price tag — prompted debates in retail circles about whether the retail giant had overpaid for the asset and if that move was needed to help Walmart navigate a rocky entry into the world of e-commerce. Yet the deal gained Walmart talent with digital know-how, particularly Jet.com founder and serial entrepreneur Marc Lore who had sold his previous company, Quidsi, the parent of Diapers.com, to Amazon and worked for Amazon for years.
During Lore’s years as leader of Walmart’s U.S. e-commerce business, Walmart bought digital native businesses including menswear company Bonobos and birthed other in-house concepts, such as mattress brand Allswell. Walmart later sold Bonobos and other digital businesses, and shuttered Jet.com in 2020.
Though the Jet.com deal did not meet some Wall Street investors’ expectations, McMillon on a call with analysts at the time credited the acquisition for “jump-starting the progress we have made the last few years” in digital growth and curbside pickup and delivery.
Over the past five years, Walmart has leaned on its membership program, Walmart+, and its third-party marketplace as it tries to fend off Amazon’s e-commerce dominance. It launched Walmart+, its own subscription service and its answer to Amazon Prime, in 2020 and has continued to add perks like streaming through Paramount+.
Through its third-party marketplace, it has bulked up its merchandise offerings on virtual shelves by leaning on independent sellers to provide its customers with a wider range of clothing items, beauty brands and even luxury handbags. The model, which mirrored Amazon’s approach, also allowed Walmart to make money in new ways, such as selling ads and fulfillment services to sellers.
A CNBC investigation earlier this year found Walmart’s marketplace boom came as it made it easier than Amazon did over time for sellers to join the platform. CNBC uncovered at least 43 vendors who had taken the identity of another business to sell on Walmart’s marketplace, and some of those accounts were offering counterfeit beauty products.
Elsewhere in the company, McMillon also shook up Walmart’s pay structure for its hundreds of thousands of employees, announcing in 2015 that the company would give a raise to half a million hourly employees and increase wages to $9 an hour — a move that at the time faced sharp criticism on Wall Street.
In more recent years, Walmart has hiked wages multiple more times. But it has faced persistent criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and other politicians who have argued the company has failed to share enough of its profits with hourly employees through pay and benefits.
As the nation’s largest private employer, Walmart has also been closely watched as the rise of artificial intelligence brings workforce changes and could threaten employment.
McMillon recently said that AI “is going to change literally every job.”
In a statement, McMillon referred to the growth of AI being a new dynamic facing his successor. And, he said, Furner is “uniquely capable of leading the company through this next AI-driven transformation.”
Oil prices plummeted by more than 10 per cent on Friday, extending earlier losses, following an announcement from Iran’s foreign minister that the Strait of Hormuz remains open for all commercial vessels during the current ceasefire period, mirroring the ceasefire in Lebanon.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 dropped by $11.12, or 11.2%, to $88.27 a barrel at 13:11 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 fell $11.40, or 12%, to $83.29 a barrel.
The fall in prices came after Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X: “In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire, on the coordinated route as already announced by Ports and Maritime Organisation of the Islamic Rep. of Iran.”
US president Donald Trump confirmed the news with his own post on Truth Social, writing: “Iran has just announced that the Strait of Iran is fully open and ready for full passage! Thank you!”
UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo stated: “Comments from Iran’s foreign minister indicate a de-escalation as long as the ceasefire is in place, now we need to see also if the number of tankers crossing the Strait increases substantially.”
The market had already seen prices decline earlier in the day amid speculation of further talks between the US and Iran over the weekend, coupled with a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, fueling investor optimism that the wider Middle East conflict might be drawing to a close.
Adding to the diplomatic momentum, Donald Trump stated that Tehran had offered not to possess nuclear weapons for more than 20 years, addressing a significant point in ongoing discussions.
“We’re going to see what happens. But I think we’re very close to making a deal with Iran,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
As grocery chains face mounting pressure from inflation-weary shoppers and growing competition, some in the industry are starting to rely on artificial intelligence to protect margins without losing customers.
Traditional levers to protect profits or drive sales, like raising prices or running blanket promotions, are becoming less effective as shoppers split trips across multiple retailers in search of value. That dynamic has helped drive market share gains for discounters like Dollar General and warehouse clubs like Costco, forcing traditional grocers to rethink how they compete.
Many are turning to more targeted, tech-enabled strategies to balance affordability with profitability. One emerging approach is using data and AI to adjust pricing on perishable inventory, especially items nearing their “best-by” dates. Historically, about 30% of food in American grocery stores is thrown away each year, and some experts estimate that translates to nearly $18.2 billion in lost value.
Now with years of high inflation and a recent spike in gas prices making it harder for households to afford food, companies are trying to assume less of that loss, otherwise referred to as “shrink.”
“We see AI as a meaningful opportunity to both improve the customer experience and drive productivity across our business,” said Kroger Chairman Ronald Sargent on the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call. “We’re already seeing results from more competitive pricing.”
According to a Deloitte study, 89% of people are shopping for discounts and deals. Numerator data shows that shoppers are visiting 23% more retailers to purchase their groceries.
That makes setting the right prices at the right time more crucial than ever.
Still, making the right real-time pricing decision requires a break from traditional playbooks. Platforms like Flashfood are helping grocers dynamically price those items, which could aid them in limiting losses from food waste.
“Not only is everyone now a value shopper, but shoppers have the information and resources available to find the best deal,” said Flashfood CEO Jordan Schenck. “This raises the stakes in terms of competition between grocers, because they’re now competing with value-specific retailers.”
This has created a unique paradigm shift for grocers who have seen increased competition from other retailers, Schenck said, and pressure to figure out how to create value without eroding their brands through yellow sticker markdowns and discounting.
Flashfood connects shoppers with local grocery stores to purchase food nearing its best-by date at a discount. Users browse, purchase and pay for items directly through the app, then pick up orders from a designated “Flashfood zone” fridge in store.
Kroger’s Flashfood app.
Courtesy: Kroger
Flashfood says it helps grocers to sell fresh food by converting what would have been shrink into incremental revenue. The company is expanding to more than 100 additional Kroger stores this month, building on a footprint that already spans over 2,000 locations across North America.
The pitch is that retailers don’t have to choose between offering affordability to shoppers and boosting their margins. By using AI to target discounts precisely, rather than marking down an entire category, Flashfood says stores can improve sell-through while reducing waste. The end goal is more sales of perishable food and less product ending up in landfills.
Flashfood says its partners, which include Kroger but also regional chains like Piggly Wiggly, Loblaws and Gelson’s, and have reduced shrink by an average of 27% while also driving incremental traffic. Shoppers using the app make nearly four additional trips per month on average and spend about $28 more per visit on full-priced items beyond their discounted purchases, according to the company.
Advertisement for Kroger’s Flashfood app.
Courtesy: Kroger
At the same time, the data generated from these systems is giving retailers deeper insight into consumer behavior by identifying what products will sell, at what price and at what point in their shelf lives. That’s especially important in categories like fresh foods and bakery, where margins are tighter and spoilage risk is higher.
“Grocery stores have some of the best personalized data, but not all grocery stores know what to do with the data,” said Roth Capital Partners analyst Bill Kirk. “Kroger has been at the forefront of recognizing the importance of their data and the insights that can be derived.”
Kirk has a buy rating on the stock and $78 price target, higher than its Thursday closing price of $67.77.
Bridging that gap between surplus inventory and value-seeking shoppers is emerging as one of the clearest opportunities grocers are trying to cash in on to improve profitability.
The boss of Tesco has said the supermarket giant will do “whatever we can” to keep down the price of food for shoppers as it warned that uncertainty linked to the Iran war is clouding its outlook for profits.
The UK’s largest supermarket chain said it has not yet seen any impact on product availability or prices, excluding fuel, since the conflict began at the end of February.
However, it said has been in contact with the Government to help plan for a worst-case scenario which could see the ongoing war lead to shortages of carbon dioxide used by the food industry.
Ken Murphy, chief executive of Tesco, told reporters: “We haven’t seen any issues and are in very strong shape.
“We constantly talk to our suppliers and none of our suppliers have raised any issues.”
He also said the retailer does not recognise predictions from the Food and Drink Federation that food inflation could jump above 9% this year if the conflict continues, stressing that it has not yet seen an impact on prices.
Fuel prices have already jumped higher in recent months due to the war between US-Israeli and Iranian forces, which have impacted energy production facilities and shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Mr Murphy said: “We are in good shape in our fuel stocks.
“We have seen elevated demand recently but we are still very competitively stocked.”
The boss also added that the retailer has not yet seen any impact from the conflict on customer sentiment in the UK.
It came as Tesco said that profits could dip over the current year as it flagged increased uncertainty linked to the conflict in the Middle East.
The UK’s largest supermarket group reported stronger-than-expected adjusted operating profits of £3.15 billion for the year to February 28, up slightly from £3.13 billion a year earlier.
The retailer said it expects this to be between £3 billion and £3.3 billion over the current financial year, telling shareholders it was “providing a wider range of guidance than we were previously planning” due to uncertainty caused by the Iran war.
Tesco also revealed that sales, excluding VAT and fuel, grew by 4.6% to £66.6 billion for the past year.
The group said on Thursday that it plans to make a further £500 million in cost savings in 2026/27, after surpassing its £535 million savings target last year.
Mr Murphy added: “We are committed to doing whatever we can to help keep down the cost of the weekly shop, and with the conflict in the Middle East creating further uncertainty for consumers and the economy more broadly, that commitment matters more than ever.
“Over the last year, despite cost pressures from new regulation, we have increased our investments in keeping prices low, further improving quality and offering even better service.
“Customers are choosing to shop more with us as a result, leading to our highest market share for over a decade.”
Tesco also announced that it will hand a £65 million award to its staff across its stores, warehouses and customers engagement centres following the latest performance.
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