Outgoing Walmart CEO leaves behind a company at the top of American retail

Outgoing Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has steered the retailer through the e-commerce revolution, a pandemic, high inflation and political upheaval.

Everyone knows Walmart. But not everyone outside Wall Street and corporate America knows of its CEO, Doug McMillon, the same way they know of Tesla’s Elon Musk, Disney’s Bob Iger or JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon.

Yet, McMillon’s impact on the American consumer over the past 12 years is arguably as big, if not bigger, than any of those three. With affordability top of mind from Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, he built on Walmart’s reputation for low prices while pushing the company to embrace technologies that have helped it compete with — and sometimes vanquish — its competitors.

He did so while weathering economic and political headwinds that, at times, threatened to make the company the face of big business run amok. Even with critics on all sides, Walmart remains popular with shoppers.

“McMillon has been a transformational leader who embraced technology to modernize WMT’s operating model and strengthen its long-term competitive positioning,” Steven Shemesh, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, wrote using Walmart’s ticker symbol.

When McMillon steps down in January, he will leave behind a company that reaches into almost every community in the country.