"A decade ago, on a Wednesday afternoon in September 2015, Target CEO Brian Cornell stood on stage at the Target Center arena in downtown Minneapolis beneath a Jumbotron projecting a chart showing how the retailer's stock had dramatically outperformed that of its arch-rival, Walmart, in the preceding year, his first as chief executive. The crowd of 13,000 Target employees attending the annual corporate powwow erupted into applause-to the delight of a grinning, clearly satisfied Cornell."
"McMillon has been lauded for modernizing the tradition-bound Walmart, which has become a tech and e-commerce powerhouse capable of holding its own against the rising threat of Amazon and positioning itself well for the AI era. Walmart shares have risen 300% since McMillon, who started at his career as a warehouse worker at Walmart unloading trucks, became CEO. During his run, annual revenue rose nearly $200 billion to $681 billion."
Brian Cornell briefly celebrated Target’s stock surge in 2015 after his first year as CEO, but the retailers’ trajectories diverged significantly thereafter. Doug McMillon transformed Walmart into a tech- and e-commerce-focused company, producing roughly 300% share growth and nearly $200 billion in additional annual revenue during his tenure. Target’s shares rose only about 60% under Cornell, with momentum peaking during the pandemic and weakening afterward. Target encountered challenges including merchandise that failed to appeal to more price-conscious shoppers and backlash tied to diversity-related decisions, contributing to its relative underperformance.
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