Wal-Mart Shedding 300 Positions At Headquarter - WSJ

Wal-Mart Shedding 300 Positions At Headquarter - WSJ

By KAREN TALLEY

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is laying off roughly 300 employees at its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters as the retailer aligns its staffing with changes it announced earlier this week at its operating divisions.

Wal-Mart, in a memo Wednesday to employees, called the cuts the "last major strategic piece" of an effort to drive greater growth, leverage and returns for the company, its customers and its shareholders.

The job cuts will be in Wal-Mart's legal, finance, corporate affairs, human resources and information systems departments. Wal-Mart employees 12,000 at its headquarters.

Over the past week or so, Wal-Mart has announced operational changes at its U.S. stores and Sam's Club warehouses, and a shift in the way it sources goods.

The "organizational changes at our home office" will put staffing more in sync with the operational changes, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke said in the memo. "I believe that if we ask our operations to be leaner and more customer-focused, we must ask the same of our support teams at the home office."

Wednesday's statement follows Wal-Mart's announcement Jan. 28 that it plans to break up its U.S. business into North, South and Western regions, each of which would have its own real-estate teams to scout and build new stores, and merchandising teams to fine-tune the mix of products sold to suit local customs. The new model more closely resembles the company's international operations, which are headed by country presidents with similar teams working underneath them.

Duke said that the U.S. changes would allow the company to "grow in new markets, leverage scale for greater efficiency, and offer new opportunities for some of our most talented associates."

The retailer said it is closing 10 poorly performing Sam's Club warehouse stores and letting go 11,200 Sam's Club employees as it shifts from using its own staff to a private company to provide in-store product demonstrations.

Wal-Mart also announced a strategic alliance with Li & Fung Ltd. in an effort to both reduce costs and improve product quality. Global buying agent Li & Fung, of Hong Kong, said it expects to provide about $2 billion worth of goods to Wal-Mart in the deal's first year. The agreement will allow Wal-Mart to bypass numerous importers.

Duke said in Wednesday's memo, "Each move has been designed to help us become more global, take advantage of our scale, and move our business even closer to the customer."

Write to Karen Talley at karen.talley@dowjones.com s