Walmart is cutting or relocating about 1,000 corporate workers as the retail giant overhauls its technology and product teams amid a broader push into artificial intelligence and automation.
The layoffs and relocations were outlined in a memo sent Tuesday by Walmart executives Daniel Danker and Suresh Kumar, according to a copy of the memo viewed by the Wall Street Journal.
“In some cases, we’ve had different teams working on similar problems,” the executives wrote, explaining the company’s effort to streamline operations and improve efficiency.
The shakeup comes less than a year after Walmart hired Danker, a former Instacart executive, into the newly created role of head of global AI acceleration.
Since joining the company over the summer, Danker and Kumar, Walmart’s global chief technology officer, have reviewed the retailer’s internal structure and moved to consolidate overlapping teams.
Affected employees were told they could apply for other open positions inside the company, according to the memo.
Many workers impacted by the cuts have also been asked to relocate to Walmart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., or to offices in Northern California, people familiar with the situation told the Journal.
The move marks the latest round of corporate restructuring by the nation’s largest private employer, which has repeatedly trimmed white-collar staff while centralizing operations around a handful of major hubs.
Earlier this year, Walmart disclosed plans to lay off roughly 100 employees at its Hoboken, NJ, corporate offices through a state filing required under New Jersey labor law.
The company employs about 1.6 million workers in the US, the vast majority of them hourly store and warehouse workers.
Walmart insisted the latest changes are tied to organizational restructuring — not replacing employees with AI.
A company spokeswoman told the Journal that the cuts were related to organizational structure and alignment, rather than handing work over to artificial intelligence systems.
Still, the restructuring arrives as major corporations across the country have been slashing jobs while pouring billions into AI infrastructure and automation.
Tech giants including Meta Platforms and Amazon have announced significant layoffs in recent months as executives race to fund costly AI investments and prepare for a future where more tasks are automated.
Walmart has spent years aggressively expanding its technology footprint while trying to protect profit margins in a brutally competitive retail environment.
Executives have increasingly emphasized automation, AI and higher-margin businesses such as advertising as critical growth drivers.
The company has also sought to squeeze costs out of its sprawling operations while integrating technology across divisions including Walmart stores, Sam’s Club and its international business
In recent months, Walmart merged several global technology platforms that had previously operated independently across different units.
“We believe this will result in our growth continuing to come at a much lower marginal cost than what it has historically,” Walmart CEO John Furner said during the company’s earnings presentation earlier this year.
The retailer has been on a prolonged sales-growth streak, boosted in part by higher-income shoppers flocking to its stores during years of stubborn inflation.
But Walmart has simultaneously faced mounting pressure to modernize its systems and compete more aggressively with Amazon in logistics, advertising and digital commerce.
The company has rapidly expanded automated fulfillment centers, online delivery capabilities and AI-powered tools designed to improve inventory management and customer service.
Executives have repeatedly pitched those investments as necessary to sustain long-term growth while limiting labor and operational costs.
The company has not publicly disclosed which departments were most heavily affected in Tuesday’s restructuring.
The Post has sought comment from Walmart.
