Walmart confirmed on Wednesday that it has begun to lay off corporate employees about a week after the company slashed its profit outlook and warned that consumers had pulled back on discretionary spending due to inflation.
In a statement to CNBC, the retail giant described the layoffs as a way to “better position the company for a strong future.”
Anne Hatfield, a Walmart spokesperson, declined to say how many workers will be affected and what divisions have experienced cuts. She said Walmart is still hiring in parts of its business that are growing, including supply chain, e-commerce, health and wellness and advertising sales.
“Shoppers are changing. Customers are changing,” she said. “We are doing some restructuring to make sure we’re aligned.”
Walmart is the country’s largest private employer with nearly 1.6 million workers in the U.S.
The corporate layoffs were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
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