Marc Lore, who joined the company in 2016 after selling his online startup Jet.com to Walmart, is retiring in late January, the company announced on Friday.
Lore, the chief executive of Walmart’s e-commerce arm in the United States, initially led the redesign of Walmart.com and helped expand Walmart’s online merchandise options from about 10 million items when it started to more than 80 million of items, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a memo to employees Friday.
Walmart’s (WMT) the shares fell 1% at midday on Friday.
Lore is leaving shortly after the company merged its previously separate online division into a larger business. After Lore retires on January 31, the online business will report to Walmart’s head in the United States, John Furger, the company said in a filing.
“With our structural changes in place, we concluded that it is time for Marc to transition from his daily role at Walmart,” McMillon said in the memo.
Lore will remain Walmart’s strategic advisor until September. He told Recode that his next venture will be a multi-decade project to build “a city of the future” supported by “a reformed version of capitalism”.
Walmart bought brands online, such as Bonobos and Moosejaw, during Lore’s management, while looking to grow online and reach younger consumers. However, he said he was discontinuing Jet.com in 2019.
Walmart’s online businesses, while still much smaller than Amazon’s, have grown rapidly in recent years. Walmart said in November that it offers 3,700 stores on the sidewalk and 2,700 home deliveries.
“Lore can leave Walmart and effectively declare victory,” said Andrew Lipsman, retail analyst at eMarketer. “It had a tremendously successful performance, helping to drive huge growth in sales and market share in Walmart’s previously slow e-commerce business.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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