Walmart Cutting Hundreds Of Jobs In Restructuring

BENTONVILLE, AR — Walmart is planning to cut hundreds of jobs as part of a corporate restructuring, a person familiar with the situation confirmed to Patch.

The retail giant began notifying employees at its Bentonville headquarters and other corporate offices it will cut around 200 corporate-level roles across multiple departments, the person said.

The restructure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Walmart spokesperson Jimmy Carter confirmed the company is updating its structure "to provide better clarity and better position the company for a strong future."

"At the same time, we're further investing in key areas like eCommerce, technology, health & wellness, supply chain and advertising sales and creating new roles to support our growing number of services for our customers, suppliers and the business community," Carter said in a statement to Patch.

The company is the largest employer in the country with 1.6 million employees in the United States and 2.3 million employees worldwide.

The restructure comes after Walmart announced cuts to its quarterly and full-year profit outlook last week, citing inflation as a reason people were shifting their spending patterns from pandemic norms. The company said raised prices were causing people to spend more on necessities such as food and less on items like clothes and electronics, leading to extra stock and mark downs on those items.

Walmart now expects adjusted earnings per share to decline 8 to 9 percent for the second quarter and 11 to 13 percent for the year. Previous projections had a flat outlook for the quarter and a fall of 1 percent for the year.

Walmart, the largest grocer in the United States, expects to see a rise in grocery sales, but the profit margins on food are lower than nonessential items, where the company expects to take a hit.