Pittsburgh, USA September 9, 2022 Walmart in a Pittsburgh suburb.
Retail giant Walmart has announced significant layoffs impacting over 1,500 employees across its U.S. operations, as part of a broader restructuring of its technology and advertising divisions. The move reflects the company’s effort to streamline operations, consolidate resources, and realign strategic priorities in a rapidly changing digital retail landscape.
According to Entrepreneur, the job cuts primarily affect workers in Walmart’s corporate offices, particularly those in departments tied to technology infrastructure, product design, and its rapidly growing advertising business, Walmart Connect. The company is reportedly merging certain teams and eliminating overlapping roles to improve efficiency.
These layoffs are tied to a broader strategy to centralize Walmart’s tech operations. The company is pushing to consolidate its workforce into key hub locations, including Bentonville (Arkansas), San Bruno (California), and Hoboken (New Jersey). Employees not based in these hubs were asked to relocate or face termination.
This geographic restructuring comes amid Walmart’s push to become more agile in its tech deployments and unify efforts across digital commerce, logistics, and customer experience innovation.
Walmart Connect, the company’s advertising unit that has seen substantial growth in recent years, is also undergoing changes. While advertising remains a key growth driver—generating over $3 billion in revenue in 2024—Walmart is reportedly trimming roles to focus more on automation and performance-based ad solutions, aiming to better compete with industry leaders like Amazon and Google.
Walmart is investing in AI-driven ad technology and simplifying its ad-buying processes, which could reduce the need for manual operations and account management teams.
Walmart stated:
“We are transforming our capabilities and teams to better align with our strategic goals. We remain committed to supporting impacted associates with severance packages, career services, and internal job placement assistance.”
The company emphasized that while these decisions are difficult, they are necessary to ensure long-term competitiveness in an increasingly digital-first economy.
Walmart’s announcement follows a larger trend of workforce reductions among major corporations adjusting to post-pandemic consumer behaviors, technological shifts, and inflationary pressures. Tech-driven retail strategies are evolving quickly, prompting companies to reassess their headcounts and investment focus.
Notably, other retail and tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Meta have also announced restructuring efforts in the past year, often citing automation, AI, and centralization as drivers of operational change.
For more updates on retail industry trends, job market shifts, and tech business transformations, follow our Business News section.
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