Workers Won’t Miss Walmart U.S. Chief Bill Simon

Source: courtesy of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Update: In a statement Thursday commenting on the departure of Bill Simon as President and CEO of Walmart USA, labor organization OUR Walmart highlights Simon’s failure to provide a minimum wage of $25,000 a year for its full-time employees. The group is hoping for better from replacement Greg Foran.

When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) named Doug McMillon to replace retiring CEO Mike Duke eight months ago, it was only a matter of time before Walmart U.S. chief Bill Simon left in search of greener pastures. That time came Thursday morning with the announcement that Simon is “transitioning out” of his role as president and CEO of Walmart U.S. and that Greg Foran has been promoted to replace him.

Foran joined Walmart in late 2011 and was named president and CEO of Walmart China in March of 2012. He was promoted to head of Walmart Asia earlier this year.

Simon had headed Walmart’s U.S. operations since 2010 and has been unable to turnaround the sales losses that the company has suffered in its massive stores. Simon’s approach was to try different store formats — Walmart had six at last count — in an effort to get Walmart’s nose into the tent in the eight large U.S. cities and the four U.S. states that have made it nearly impossible for the company to open its supercenters. He has focused on smaller format stores in an effort to pump up sales, but so far the effort has produced little impact.

Foran’s appoint takes effect on August 9 and Simon will remain as a consultant for the next six months, according to Walmart’s announcement.

Walmart’s stock traded down about 0.8% in the first half hour of trading on Thursday to $76.40, in a 52-week range of $71.51 to $81.37. The drop is probably due more to the fact that Walmart seems to be admitting that it hasn’t got a clue how to boost U.S. sales than it has to do with Simon’s leaving.

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