Walmart Healthcare Executive Sean Slovenski Departs
August 04 2020 - 7:25PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah Nassauer
An executive leading Walmart Inc.'s health-care ambitions is
leaving the company, people familiar with the matter said, as the
retail behemoth navigates the operational complexity of the
coronavirus pandemic.
Sean Slovenski, senior vice president and president of Health
and Wellness for Walmart U.S. is leaving as soon as this week, one
of the people familiar with the situation said. Walmart confirmed
that Mr. Slovenski will leave the company.
"We are excited to continue building and expanding on what he
created at Walmart," Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner said in a memo to
staff Tuesday evening. Walmart will name a new leader for the
Health and Wellness unit in the coming weeks, the memo said.
Mr. Slovenski joined Walmart two years ago, tasked with
implementing an expansion of the company's health-care initiatives,
including new clinics, as the retailer looks for ways to further
compete with Amazon.com Inc., and to build new sources of
profitable revenue.
Since last fall, Walmart has opened clinics at a handful of
stores with doctors and dentists that offer flat-fee primary care,
such as $25 dental X-rays and $40 office visits. In an interview
last year, Mr. Slovenski said the company planned to expand the
clinics broadly across Walmart's 4,700 U.S. stores.
Beyond clinics, Walmart has expanded into health care in new
ways in recent months due to the coronavirus pandemic, opening over
100 Covid-19 testing locations in store parking lots and
considering ways to test its 2.2 million global workers for the
illness.
Mr. Slovenski's departure raises questions about Walmart's
future health-care efforts. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has said
health care is a significant pillar of the company's growth
strategy in recent presentations to investors. Mr. Slovenski "and
his team have successfully stood up the strategy we hired him to
create," Mr. Furner said in the memo to staff.
Many retailers are trying to expand into health care. Drugstore
chains Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and rival CVS Health Corp. are
in a race to become go-to treatment centers, particularly for
patients with costly, hard-to-manage chronic conditions. Last month
Walgreens said it would attach doctors' offices to hundreds of
drugstores as the pharmacy chain seeks to remodel itself as a
health-care provider. Amazon has included a prescription delivery
service, among other efforts.
Walmart has laid off over a thousand corporate employees in
recent days, part of a wide reorganization of its U.S. business
structure under Mr. Furner, according to a person familiar with the
figure. Mr. Furner became U.S. CEO last year.
"We need to continue on the road of creating one merchandising
team...and operate more effectively," Mr. Furner and Walmart U.S.
e-commerce CEO Marc Lore said in a memo last week to staff
describing the job cuts and organizational changes.
A spokeswoman for Walmart declined to comment on the quantity of
jobs cuts. Laid off workers can reapply for open positions within
Walmart, will be paid through Jan. 31 and receive their annual
bonus, the letter said.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 04, 2020 19:10 ET (23:10 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024
