Walmart has tripled its quarterly profit to $5.1 billion just days after announcing that “several hundred” employees were being laid off. fired or subject to relocation.
He supermarket chain has released its long-awaited earnings report showing that in-store and global e-commerce sales have skyrocketed over the past year.
WalmartThe company's quarterly profits total just over $5.1 billion, an impressive 205 percent increase compared to the same period last year, which was just shy of $1.7 billion.
Consumers from “upper-income households” helped increase its market share, the retailer said in a statement Thursday.
“Our team had a great quarter. Around the world, our goal is simple: we are focused on saving our customers time and money,” Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillion said in the statement.
“We are people-led and technology-driven, and that combination is driving our business,” he concluded.
While the customer reigns and profits rise, hundreds of Walmart employees have apparently been turned away.
On Tuesday, Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris sent a memo to employees informing them that “several hundred” jobs would be lost.
The “majority” of employees working remotely and in offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto have also been asked to relocate.
If accepted, their new workplace would be located at its Arkansas headquarters or in offices in the San Francisco Bay Area or Hoboken, New Jersey, Morris said.
He added that the measure hopes that remote workers will return to the office after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In addition, some parts of our business have made changes that will result in a reduction of several hundred positions on campus,” he said in the memo.
“While the overall numbers are small in percentage, we are focused on supporting each of our associates affected by these changes.”
Social media users were quick to notice the perceived injustice online.
“Walmart is doing something I call 'phantom layoffs,'” American businessman and social media influencer Dan Price wrote on X.
“They are telling remote workers to return to the office. Some office workers need to move to another location. They know people will quit. But they don't have to pay compensation or have bad public relations for layoffs,” he added.
