BURSTRetail giant Walmart is slashing about 1,500 corporate jobs after the company announced last week it plans to raise prices due to looming tariffs.
“We are reshaping some teams in our Global Tech and Walmart U.S. organizations where we have identified opportunities to remove layers and complexity, speed up decision-making, and help associates innovate rapidly,” two senior Walmart executives wrote in a Wednesday memo to associates, which was obtained by The Hill.
“We are eliminating roles as well as opening some new roles aligned with our business priorities and growth strategy," they added.
Walmart’s global chief technology officer and John Furner, the president and CEO of Walmart U.S., wrote in the memo that “these changes are mainly focused on driving efficiency in the End-to-End Operations teams, ensuring we’re serving them so they can best serve our customers.”
“We’re also evolving the structure of our Walmart Connect marketing organization to position us for future success as we continue growing this business,” they said.
The retail behemoth, which is headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., has about 1.6 million workers at 4,600 locations around the country.
Walmart said last week that it would raise prices at stores due to the higher costs driven by President Trump’s tariff agenda.
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said.
Trump hammered Walmart over the weekend, urging the retail giant to “eat the tariffs” and spare the consumers from the additional cost.
“Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected,” Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social.
“Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING,” the president added. “I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”