Wal-Mart Says Brewer to Lead Sam’s Club as Cornell Leaves
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), the world’s largest retailer, said Brian Cornell would step down as president and chief executive officer of its Sam’s Club membership warehouse unit and be replaced by Rosalind Brewer.
Brewer, 49, most recently was president of Wal-Mart’s U.S. East business unit, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said today in a statement. Cornell, 52, told Wal-Mart he planned to move to the U.S. Northeast for family reasons.
Cornell has been credited with turning around Sam’s Club, which was Wal-Mart’s slowest-growing unit when he took over in 2009. Sam’s Club’s same-store sales gained 5.7 percent in the quarter ended October, compared with a 1.3 percent increase for Wal-Mart locations.
“Brian Cornell is very well-respected,” Natalie Berg, an analyst with London-based Planet Retail, said today in a telephone interview. “It’s a huge loss. He has turned Sam’s Club around.”
Wal-Mart also said Gisel Ruiz, 41, was promoted to chief operating officer for Wal-Mart U.S., effective Feb. 1. She most recently was responsible for Wal-Mart U.S.’s human resources.
Wal-Mart rose 0.6 percent to $61 at 11:04 a.m. in New York. The shares gained 11 percent last year.
The challenge for Brewer will be continuing the growth that Cornell started, Berg said. Cornell made merchandising changes, such as expanding the food department and introducing a private- label line, both of which helped sales, she said.
First Woman
Brewer is the first woman and the first black person to be CEO of a business unit at Wal-Mart, said David Tovar, a company spokesman.
Wal-Mart sees Sam’s, which had $49.5 billion of revenue in fiscal 2011, as a growth business, Berg said. While it’s difficult to measure Brewer’s performance because Wal-Mart doesn’t detail her division’s results, she has a good reputation, Berg said.
Cornell previously was CEO of hobby retailer Michaels Stores Inc. from 2007 to 2009. Before that he had executive positions at grocery retailer Safeway Inc. and worked at PepsiCo Inc. until 2004.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Welch in Detroit at dwelch12@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kevin Orland at korland@bloomberg.net
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