Walmart is eliminating or relocating approximately 1,000 corporate positions as the US retail giant consolidates its global technology and product functions into a unified structure.
Reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the restructuring aims to simplify the company’s operational structure and drive greater efficiency across its corporate functions.
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The changes follow an internal review overseen by Walmart’s global AI acceleration head Daniel Danker and global chief technology officer Suresh Kumar.
Danker joined the business from Instacart last summer.
“In some cases, we’ve had different teams working on similar problems,” Danker and Kumar said in a memo to staff viewed by WSJ.
Staff affected by the changes have been told they may apply for other roles within the business.
Many have also been asked to relocate to Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, or to its offices in Northern California.
A company spokeswoman clarified that the restructuring was driven by organisational and alignment factors rather than replacing workers with AI.
The move comes as Walmart continues to scale up spending on technology, automation and AI while also working to improve profitability and reduce operating costs.
The retailer has been consolidating teams and shifting corporate employees towards key office hubs for some time.
Earlier this year, it filed a layoff notice covering around 100 positions at its Hoboken offices.
In a recent earnings presentation, chief executive John Furner noted that Walmart had unified its global technology platforms across Walmart, Sam’s Club and its international operations.
Walmart employs 1.6 million people across the US, making it the country’s largest private employer.
The development comes against a backdrop of wider headcount reductions across major retailers.
Last month, Nike announced plans to cut around 1,400 roles worldwide, largely in technology. In March, Amazon reduced staffing in its robotics division as part of broader cost-cutting measures.
Retail Insight Network has reached out to Walmart for comment.
