Marc Lore, credited with driving Walmart Inc.'s U.S. e-commerce division to better compete with Amazon.com, is leaving the company after nearly five years with the world's largest retailer.
Lore, who joined Walmart in 2016 when the company bought Jet.com, the e-commerce firm Lore founded. Walmart hoped Lore and Jet.com's experience in online sales would help them build that side of their business to be more competitive with rival Amazon.com.
While Walmart's digital sales and brand assortment grew rapidly under Lore's tenure, the Bentonville-based retailer's U.S. e-commerce division never managed to turn a profit.
Doug McMillon, Walmart's president and chief executive officer, said in a memo to employees Friday that Lore had committed five years to the company, "and that time has flown by."
McMillon said he and Lore knew it would take time to build and scale Walmart's e-commerce business before merging Jet.com's assets with the rest of the company's operations. This was successfully accomplished last year, he said.
"With our structural changes behind us, we have concluded it's time for Marc to transition out of his everyday role at Walmart and finish out the final months of his five-year commitment as a strategic adviser to the company, McMillon said.
Lore will serve in this new role beginning Feb. 1.
John Furner, chief executive of Walmart U.S., and Lore had worked together to create the leadership teams now in place, McMillon said, so there is no need for any additional changes to Walmart's structure. All teams will report to Furner.
Walmart spokeswoman Jenn Drago Erickson said in an email that Walmart's e-commerce business has accelerated under Lore's leadership, "notably how we were prepared for the surge of online shoppers when the pandemic hit."
Drago Erickson added that one of Lore's main goals was to create a fully integrated e-commerce team. "Given that we got to that point earlier than expected, Marc is able to transition from an associate to a strategic adviser," she said.
Retail industry analysts weren't surprised at the news of Lore's departure.
"I think even to outsiders this was anticipated for some time," said Sucharita Kodali, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. Lore has many interests, she said, including a vineyard.
Kodali said Lore has contributed much to Walmart.
"Just look at its stock price since the Jet acquisition," she said. Walmart shares closed at $72.12 on Aug. 31, 2016, a few weeks after the retailer bought Jet.com for $3.3 billion.
"Maybe the growth was due to other factors, but Walmart certainly improved its digital presence after the Jet acquisition and it became a much more viable competitor to Amazon," Kodali said.
Walmart's shares closed Friday at $144.64 on the New York Stock Exchange, down $2.33, or 1.59%.
Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst with financial services firm Edward Jones, said Friday's drop may be due at least in part to some nervousness on Wall Street with Lore's departure because a big driver of the stock has been Walmart's e-commerce potential to grow and become a stronger competitor to Amazon.
Soon after Lore came aboard Walmart, the retailer began gobbling up online brands to add to its e-commerce segment. With the purchase of Jet.com, Walmart also acquired home furnishings company Hayneedle.
In 2017, the acquisitions came in quick succession: shoe and apparel company ShoeBuy.com, which was renamed Shoes.com; outdoor apparel retailer Moosejaw; women's vintage-inspired clothing company ModCloth; and men's clothing retailer Bonobos.
Then in late 2018, Walmart bought plus-sized women's clothing company Eloquii and online lingerie brand Bare Necessities.
The buying spree soon came to a halt, though, as Walmart's e-commerce business continued losing money.
Walmart announced in September that it had sold Shoes.com and Bare Necessities, two companies that analysts said were dragging down Walmart's e-commerce revenue.
Yarbrough linked Lore's departure with the U.S. e-commerce division's continued inability to turn a profit.
"Walmart's more recent comments about its e-commerce business have indicated the company wants to ... move toward profitability," he said. Such comments made Yarbrough wonder how long Lore would last with the retailer.
Even so, Yarbrough praised what he sees as Lore's strengths.
"I think Lore is a very talented individual," Yarbrough said, "and from the standpoint of e-commerce strategy, Lore's departure from Walmart is a big loss.
"But I think the point where Lore probably lacked is how to get to profitability," Yarbrough said.
Carol Spieckerman, a retail consultant and president of Spieckerman Retail, said Lore brought "a digitally focused entrepreneurial mindset to Walmart that encouraged risk-taking and non-traditional thinking."
However, Lore is leaving at a time when the retailer is pursuing new paths, Spieckerman said.
"Walmart is leaning more into partnerships than acquisitions, unifying stores with e-commerce rather than treating them as separate businesses, and making big bets on monster categories like health and wellness," she said.
"It would be simplistic to judge Marc Lore's tenure by the perceived success of individual acquisitions and initiatives," Spieckerman said. "Lore helped lay a foundation to enable Walmart's confident expansion and it's a perfect time for him to pursue his many other interests."