Walmart CEO Doug McMillon will retire effective Jan. 31, 2026, the company announced in a Friday morning surprise, concluding a decade-long tenure that reshaped the retail giant’s global strategy and digital presence.
John Furner, currently head of Walmart’s U.S. operations, will succeed McMillon as president and chief executive officer starting Feb. 1, 2026. Furner was also elected to the company’s Board of directors, effective immediately. McMillon will remain on the Board of Directors until the next annual shareholders’ meeting, the company said, to help ensure a smooth transition.
“John Furner is the right leader to guide Walmart into our next chapter of growth and transformation,” Greg Penner, chairman of Walmart Inc., said in a statement. “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.
McMillon has served as chief executive of the U.S.’s largest retailer since 2013 and has seen the retailer’s stock quadruple in that time. For the entirety of his tenure, Walmart sat at No. 1 on the Fortune 500.
The CEO also navigated a rocky past decade that has included the pandemic and its aftershocks, the rise of e-commerce and artificial intelligence, as well as an unsteady trade environment that forced the retailer to increase prices.
Walmart’s prowess has continued to grow. Its U.S. revenue rose 4.7% to $462.42 billion last year, nabbing market share from retail rivals Target and Kroger. In August, the retailer said it expected U.S. sales growth of up to 4.75% for fiscal 2025, coming off of a hot first quarter.
Under McMillon, Walmart also raised its wages for entry-level workers from $9 in 2015 to $14 as of 2024, as well as increased training and helping to pay college tuition for employees. The company’s sustainability push led it to reach its goal of eliminating one gigaton of greenhouse gas emissions by 2023, six years ahead of schedule.
“We’re not a perfect company, but we’ve done a lot of good things for the environment, for our associates, for others,” McMillon told Fortune last year. “I would just love for the reputation to match the reality.”
Incoming CEO Furner is already grappling with today’s questions surrounding AI and the future of Walmart’s workforce. He told Fortune’s Jason Del Rey at the Brainstorm Tech conference in September that the retailer planned to continue to employ its roughly 1.6 million employee base.
“When we look out two years, three years, five years, where I think we’ll be is we’ll have roughly the same number of people we have today,” he said.
In the future, having the same number of employees on the payroll as the company grows means Walmart will be, on a per capita level, more productive. Furner said that as the retailer and the technology it uses evolve, some jobs will disappear, with new roles emerging in their places. He said at the conference that one general manager in a Brooksville, Florida, store spent two decades leading trucks but now leads a team of bot techs.
“We’re extending people’s career and those jobs pay better. The attrition rates are really low,” Furner said.