Walmart is planning to cut hundreds of jobs and close a North Carolina office as the company continues to focus efforts on its main hubs in California and Arkansas.
According to a memo issued on Tuesday, first obtained by Fox Business, employees in Hoboken, New Jersey, and other smaller posts have also been asked to relocate to Walmart‘s new headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, and its office in Sunnyvale, California.
Newsweek has not seen the memo and has contacted Walmart for comment via an online form outside business hours.
Why It Matters
Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S., with about 1.6 million employees, and the largest company in the country in terms of revenue.
The company’s decision regarding office-based employees in Hoboken and elsewhere also follows the trend of several large businesses—including Amazon, Google and Microsoft—demanding that employees return to office.
What To Know
Walmart’s announcement reflects a broader strategic shift at the company, first unveiled in mid-2024.
Though the exact number of affected employees was not made clear in the memo, per Fox, the announcement aligned with Walmart’s strategy to streamline operations by consolidating its non-store workforce into a few key hubs nationwide, while also slimming down the number of smaller offices it operates across the country.
In May, Walmart announced that it would be cutting hundreds of jobs at its corporate headquarters in Arkansas, while moving the majority of its remote workers in Canada and the U.S. to offices.
At the time, workers in smaller offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto were also asked to relocate to the company’s central hubs, such as the corporate headquarters in Bentonville, and those in Hoboken, California and New York.
What People Are Saying
Donna Morris, Walmart’s chief people officer, wrote in the memo, according to Reuters: “We are making these changes to put key capabilities together, encouraging speed and shared understanding. Through this review process, we have eliminated some roles as we streamline how we work and will also be exiting our office in Charlotte, North Carolina.”
Fox Business market analyst Keith Fitz-Gerald said in January: “I think this is the year where Walmart’s assault on Amazon gains serious momentum. I think the stock is going to radically outperform it, and we’re going to see a renewed customer confidence in that particular brand.”
What Happens Next
While Walmart did not disclose the number of employees affected by the decision, per the memo seen by Reuters and Fox, it said workers would have a month to comply with the relocation plan.
The memo also said new office spaces would open later this year in Bellevue, Washington, and Sunnyvale as Walmart upgraded offices in Hoboken and New York.
The company is set to announce its fourth-quarter earnings on February 20. Its third-quarter results, which came in ahead of expectations, prompted the company to raise its outlook for the full year.
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