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Walmart E-Commerce Chief Marc Lore Is Departing

Marc Lore is leaving Walmart Inc. — nearly five years after the big-box chain tapped the entrepreneur to help revamp its online business.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the executive yesterday sent notice of his intention to retire from the role of EVP, president and CEO of the Bentonville, Ark.-based company’s U.S. e-commerce business. He will exit his post at the end of the month but continue to serve as a strategic advisor through September.

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Lore joined Walmart in September 2016, when it acquired Jet.com Inc. — where he was founder and CEO — in a more than $3 billion deal categorized by analysts as an “educational buy” that would allow the retailer to use the site as a learning foundation to grow its digital channels. In the regulatory filing, Walmart wrote that the transaction unified its stores with Jet’s online operations to “better [enable] us to create one brand experience for our customers.”

Then in May, Walmart quietly announced in its first-quarter report that it would be discontinuing the Jet.com website. During its earnings conference call, president and CEO Doug McMillon said that its flagship brand has dominated the company’s resources and resonates with a range of consumers whose incomes, geographies and ages are varied. He added that the Jet brand name could still be used in the future. (At the time, the retailer shared that the “vast majority” of Jet.com associates had already previously transferred over to the Walmart brand.)

Prior to launching Jet.com, Lore established and led various e-commerce and internet firms, including Quidsi and The Pit Inc. In an interview with Recode posted today, he suggested that his next entrepreneurial endeavor would involve building “a city of the future” supported by “a reformed version of capitalism.” He did not offer more details, but told the outlet that the multi-decade project is “the thing I’m most passionate about.”

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