Everyone knows Walmart. But not everyone outside Wall Street and corporate America knows of its CEO, Doug McMillon, the same way they know of Tesla’s Elon Musk, Disney’s Bob Iger or JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon.
Yet, McMillon’s impact on the American consumer over the past 12 years is arguably as big, if not bigger, than any of those three. With affordability top of mind from Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, he built on Walmart’s reputation for low prices while pushing the company to embrace technologies that have helped it compete with — and sometimes vanquish — its competitors.
He did so while weathering economic and political headwinds that, at times, threatened to make the company the face of big business run amok. Even with critics on all sides, Walmart remains popular with shoppers.
“McMillon has been a transformational leader who embraced technology to modernize WMT’s operating model and strengthen its long-term competitive positioning,” Steven Shemesh, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, wrote using Walmart’s ticker symbol.
When McMillon steps down in January, he will leave behind a company that reaches into almost every community in the country.
It’s the biggest retailer and grocer in the United States, with more than 4,600 brick-and-mortar locations. Over the past decade, it has become an e-commerce giant, too. Walmart is also the largest private employer in the country, with 1.6 million U.S. associates. It’s got another 5,500 stores abroad, as well.
Even Bentonville, the once-sleepy city where Walmart’s headquarters is based, has become a hot spot with fancy amenities — and high costs — more in line with major metropolitan areas than with rural Arkansas.
McMillon’s tenure has been especially kind to the company’s long-term investors: Walmart’s stock price has gained about 300% since he took over in 2014. The company’s market value stands above $800 billion, comparable with JPMorgan’s and four times larger than Disney’s.
McMillon, now 59, started as a Walmart associate when he was in high school in the 1980s, when the company was already well on its way to global supremacy. At the time, Walmart was criticized for gobbling up market share from five-and-dime stores in rural areas, while it also stomped over once-giant chains such as Sears, Kmart and Toys R Us.
By the time McMillon climbed the ladder all the way to become Walmart’s fifth CEO in 2014, the company was king of the consumer mountain. But it was facing a new wave of competition from value-conscious rivals, from dollar-store chains to e-commerce behemoth Amazon.
Walmart had also become a cultural symbol — and, sometimes, a punchline — for the struggles of working-class Americans in the country’s vast rural and exurban areas.
The 1995 novel “Where the Heart Is,” later turned into a movie starring Natalie Portman, depicts a young, pregnant woman who secretly moves into a Walmart. So-called “Walmart moms” were a prized voter bloc in several recent presidential elections.
Walmart is often criticized for its labor and business practices. Bernie Sanders, the progressive U.S. senator from Vermont, has ripped the company for years over what he has called its “starvation wages.”
Sanders and other critics say the company doesn’t pay its fair share in taxes, while at the same time many of its hourly employees rely on food stamps and Medicaid — both taxpayer-funded safety net programs — to make ends meet.
Walmart has attempted to address some concerns under McMillon. It has boosted pay and benefits for many employees and added fresher brands to its inventory while maintaining low prices. It has also supercharged its tech and e-commerce strategies, including its Walmart+ membership program, and renovated hundreds of stores. Its growth also led to some problems for customers, including scam sales from third-party sellers on its Walmart’s online marketplace, as well.
As inflation took off starting in 2022, several of these initiatives enabled Walmart to snap up market share among families earning six-figure incomes, but who were still looking for lower prices.
Walmart also emerged stronger from the early days of the Covid pandemic, ramping up its e-commerce and delivery programs and retooling its global supply chains at a time when Americans weren’t leaving home.
“Doug’s leadership has focused on creating an environment where people are not afraid to experiment and try new things,” Neil Saunders, managing director of retail at GlobalData, wrote in an email to NBC News. “That has helped Walmart to future-proof itself.”
The company’s now-diminished rival, Target, has slumped in the post-pandemic years after struggling with supply chain and inventory snafus.
Target has also faced backlash from consumers earlier this year for dropping its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and products. Walmart also backed off its DEI initiatives under pressure from the Trump administration and conservative activists — but it didn’t take anywhere near the heat that Target did.
Still, the McMillon-era Walmart was never far from political controversy, including when it tightened its gun and ammunition sales in 2019 following a mass shooting in Texas.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has praised McMillon’s Walmart — and picked fights with it.
In recent weeks, the president touted Walmart’s yearly Thanksgiving meal deal package as evidence his policies were making things more affordable. While it is less expensive than last year’s version, the deal includes fewer, and cheaper, items — showing that even Walmart isn’t immune to inflationary pressures.
That was clear in the spring, too, when the company said it would have to raise some prices because of Trump’s tariffs. The president lashed out on social media, warning: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain.”
Walmart didn’t back off, but McMillon said on an earnings call that tariff effects were “gradual enough that any behavioral adjustments by the customer have been somewhat muted.” Indeed, the company raised its sales and profit revenue outlook for the year, heading into the holiday shopping season.
And this was made possible largely because of how the company reshaped itself under McMillon’s stewardship. Even as he retires, handing off to successor John Furner, it would take a lot to “roll back” Walmart’s dominant position.
“Furner is taking over one of the most desirable seats in corporate America,” wrote Scot Ciccarelli, an analyst with Truist Securities. He “just needs to continue to execute against the game plan they have already put in place.”