Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, who has spent more than a decade reshaping the country’s largest retailer into a technology-driven powerhouse, will retire in January 2026, the company announced Friday in a move that caught Wall Street off guard.
According to The Associated Press, McMillon, 59, will step down on Jan. 31, 2026. The following day, John Furner — the 51-year-old head of Walmart’s U.S. operations and a company veteran — will take over as CEO. Investors reacted quickly to the news, with Walmart shares sliding 3% in premarket trading after the announcement.
Furner’s promotion puts a familiar figure at the helm. He started with Walmart in 1993 and has held leadership roles across all three of the company’s operating segments. For the past six years, he has overseen Walmart’s massive U.S. operation, its largest and most influential business unit.
McMillon leaves behind a dramatically transformed company. During his tenure, Walmart poured billions into workforce investment by raising wages, expanding parental leave, and launching programs to help employees earn certificates or college degrees.
At the same time, he pushed Walmart deeper into digital innovation — embracing artificial intelligence, expanding e-commerce, and modernizing the company’s sprawling supply chain.
“Over more than a decade as CEO, Doug led a comprehensive transformation by investing in our associates, advancing our digital and e-commerce capabilities, and modernizing our supply chain, resulting in sustained, robust financial performance,” Walmart Chairman Doug Penner said in a statement. “He leaves Walmart stronger, more innovative, and better aligned with our purpose to help people save money and live better.”
Under McMillon’s leadership, Walmart’s financials surged. Annual revenue climbed from $485.7 billion in 2014 to $681 billion last fiscal year. Shares that traded around $25 when he became CEO now sit above $102.
Penner said the board has full confidence in Furner’s ability to continue that trajectory, noting his “more than 30 years” of leadership across the company.
McMillon, who began his Walmart career unloading trucks as a teenager, exits as one of the most influential CEOs in the company’s history — and leaves Furner with a retailer that looks far more technologically sophisticated than the one he inherited in 2014.
