After a 300% Rally Under McMillon… Walmart’s New CEO Takes Over Just as the Real Challenges Begin

Walmart is heading into 2026 with a brand new captain taking the wheel. After nearly 12 years at the helm, CEO Doug McMillon will step down on Jan. 31, 2026, ending one of the retail industry’s longest and most consequential executive runs. John Furner (the company’s U.S. division chief and a 30-year Walmart veteran) will take over as CEO on Feb. 1, the company announced Friday.

The transition marks a generational handoff inside the world’s largest retailer. Like McMillon, Furner worked his way up from hourly associate to the executive suite, starting on Walmart’s sales floor in the early 1990s. The two executives share a similar background, a deep familiarity with the Walmart playbook, and a homegrown Arkansas trajectory… something the company has historically valued in its leadership pipeline.

Greg Penner, Walmart’s chairman, called Furner someone who “understands every dimension of our business… from the sales floor to global strategy.”

But the handoff comes at a complicated moment for the 62-year-old retail monopoly. Furner, 51, will inherit a workforce of more than 1.5 million U.S. employees, a global supply chain dealing with tougher tariff rules, and a customer base squeezed by rising prices and weakening affordability. He will also be responsible for defining how Walmart operates in the age of artificial intelligence… from automated inventory systems to robotics to predictive demand management.

Since 2019, Furner has been in charge of Walmart’s U.S. operations, guiding the company through the pandemic rush, supply chain chaos, and the early inflation spike that totally rewired customer habits. During his watch, Walmart managed steady growth at home, even as rivals dealt with lower foot traffic and smaller profits.

McMillon’s exit closes out a tenure that reshaped Walmart’s trajectory. When he took over in 2014, the existential question facing brick-and-mortar retail was whether physical stores could survive Amazon’s rise. McMillon chose not to retreat. Instead, he doubled down on Walmart’s massive store base while pushing the company deeper into technology, e-commerce, and automation… moves that were seen as risky at the time.

Those bets have paid off. Walmart’s sales, profits, and market share have all grown, and the company has transformed into one of the country’s most advanced logistics and digital fulfillment operations. The stock has risen nearly 300% since McMillon’s first day as CEO. Even Wall Street’s skepticism early in his tenure (including a 10% sell-off in 2015 when Walmart increased tech and wage investments) ultimately gave way to long-term momentum.

McMillon’s strategy wasn’t limited to technology. He also sought to change Walmart’s internal culture by investing in store managers, boosting wages, expanding training programs, and restructuring teams to give workers more opportunities to advance. He frequently emphasized that Walmart’s progress was the result of collective effort, not top-down leadership.

“Serving as Walmart’s CEO has been a great honor,” McMillon said Friday, thanking associates for the past decade of companywide transformation.

Now, the job falls to Furner, and the next chapter won’t be any easier. Walmart is doubling down on AI tools, automation, and new supply-chain systems… including millions of tiny wireless sensors meant to track inventory more accurately. At the same time, the company is battling tougher competition across groceries, pharmacy, e-commerce, and general merchandise. And with customers watching every dollar, there’s little room for error.

McMillon, now 59, will stay on Walmart’s board through the next shareholder meeting. But the countdown has already started. As Walmart steps into a new era, it will be John Furner (another lifer who started as an hourly worker) guiding one of America’s most important companies into its future.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon as mentioned in the article.