Walmart's Next CEO Gets Analyst Nod

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00:00I think it's the first thing you said that Doug has done an amazing job, Doug McMillan, that is,

00:05as CEO of Walmart. You know, the stock's up like 400% since he took over in February of 2014.

00:12So you can see, you know, investors really liked him. He's turned around that business. He's

00:17transformed it. He's modernized the supply chain. He's, you know, there's brought a lot of digital

00:22and technological innovation of the company. And that's really what's propelling it right now.

00:27You know, in addition to obviously being the lowest price provider for retail goods

00:31to consumers. So like you add that all up and people, why would anybody want that to change?

00:36So I do think the transition of John Furner is going to be relatively smooth. He's a lifer

00:41at Walmart, very much like Doug McMillan was. And I think he's really ready. He's been running the

00:47Walmart U.S. business for the past several years, and it's done phenomenally well under his stewardship.

00:52And what a year it's been for McMillan after getting Walmart to the place it is. I mean,

00:59now he's someone who's who had to deal with President Trump directly lashing out at him

01:04for saying that Walmart would be rising, raising prices because of tariffs. In John Furner,

01:09how much is this a man who not only is going to have to continue to carry the torch from what he's

01:13been doing at the U.S. group of Walmart, but also needs to become a diplomat of sorts,

01:18needs to become a figure that can handle President Trump, just given the prominence of Walmart in

01:23American society? Yeah, you know, I think John Furner is really ready and up to the task. You

01:29know, he's been groomed really to become the CEO. Walmart does a very good job of leadership and

01:34transition planning. This wasn't a very quick thing. This is something that's been in the works

01:39for a while. He's been mentored by Doug McMillan for years. And, you know, so I think that that's going

01:45to really help him go forward. He's got a great set of board that's around him to help advise him.

01:50And I think, John, he does a very good job. He's very diplomatic. And I think that he's the right

01:55guy to bring, you know, Walmart into the next decade, really, because that seems to be what

02:01they do with their CEOs. And, you know, that's what we're going to be looking at is to see how he can

02:06help really fuel this continued transformation of the business and really embracing the technology.

02:12I think he's up to the task of dealing with with leaders of foreign countries and our own country.

02:18I wonder about the, you know, 2.1 million employees at Walmart. They've arguably done

02:24better under Doug McMillan's leadership, right? He's raised the pay that they get. But they've got

02:32to be fearful that at least in some cases, AI could replace their jobs, right? You're never going to

02:37not need greeters, I hope, at the door. But a lot of the other jobs there can be done by AI.

02:44How fearful do you think they need to be of layoffs under this new CEO, Joe?

02:50Well, I'm not so sure we're going to see layoffs, but we could see, you know, the labor pools stagnate

02:56around this 2.1 million, where you don't see a lot of new additional labor. And I do think the role

03:03that people play at Walmart will transition and change. You know, Doug McMillan has talked about

03:07that quite a bit, that he feels like we don't necessarily need to reduce the labor force. It's

03:13much more about just transitioning the labor force to embrace new roles and the technology that's

03:19coming to be more efficient. They're already starting to do that. I think John Furner is

03:24probably going to take that same approach. I think that, you know, they've done a really good job

03:28with both John Furner and Doug McMillan, both starting at the company as young men, right out

03:35of school, hourly employees, rising all the way to the top. I think that's a great example for others

03:41at Walmart and to show that Walmart really does like to promote from within. And people are immensely

03:48important, especially in retail, as you said, you know, to greet customers, to make sure that there's

03:54good customer engagement, and that you're doing the right thing for the consumer.

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