Key Takeaways
- Target is laying off 1,000 corporate employees next Tuesday and cutting 800 open roles.
- Target’s incoming CEO, Michael Fiddelke, sent staff a memo on Thursday afternoon informing them of the upcoming layoffs.
- An anonymous Target employee said workers were in a state of “total panic” after receiving the memo as they tried to determine whether they were “essential” to the company.
Target on Thursday informed staff of its first major corporate workforce reduction in a decade as the retailer tries to revitalize growth after four consecutive years of sluggish sales.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the cuts affect approximately 1,800 positions, including 1,000 layoffs and 800 open roles. The move will reduce Target’s 22,000-person global corporate staff by around 8%, with 80% of the cuts affecting U.S. employees. Target is primarily reducing corporate employees based at its headquarters; the layoffs do not affect store or supply chain workers.
Affected employees will be notified on Tuesday and will continue to receive pay and benefits until January 3, as well as severance packages, the Wall Street Journal reports. Target is asking all employees at its U.S. headquarters to work from home next week.
Target’s incoming CEO, Michael Fiddelke, who takes over the role in February and currently serves as Chief Operating Officer, told staff about the layoffs in a memo viewed by CNBC.
Fiddelke, a 20-year Target veteran who will succeed longtime CEO Brian Cornell, stated in the memo that the decision to conduct layoffs was driven by the need to simplify “layers” of “complexity” to speed up decision-making.
“The truth is, the complexity we’ve created over time has been holding us back,” Fiddelke said in the memo. “Too many layers and overlapping work have slowed decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to life.”
The layoffs are “a necessary step in building the future of Target,” Fiddelke wrote.
An anonymous corporate Target employee, who works out of the company’s headquarters, told Business Insider that after Fiddelke sent the memo on Thursday afternoon, the atmosphere internally was one of “total panic.”
“We’re all trying to figure out if we’re essential team that’s going to be kept, the employee told BI.
Related: Target Teams Up With Shopify To Give Online Small Businesses Brick-and-Mortar Shelf Space
The layoffs are part of Target’s broader push to grow after years of underwhelming financial results. The retail giant has seen nearly flat or slightly negative sales growth for four consecutive years. From fiscal years 2023 to 2025, Target’s annual revenue decreased by roughly 2.3% or about $2.5 billion, dropping from $109.1 billion in 2023 to $106.6 billion in 2025.
The company’s revenue has been pressured by a combination of declining customer traffic and heightened competition from rivals like Walmart and Amazon. Shares of Target have declined by 65% since hitting a peak in 2021.
Target last made a significant workforce reduction in 2015, when the company cut roughly 3,100 jobs as part of a cost-cutting and restructuring plan under then-CEO Cornell. The 2015 restructuring followed Target’s exit from the Canadian retail market and a major data breach affecting up to 70 million individuals the previous year. Approximately 1,700 employees were laid off from headquarters, while about 1,400 open positions were also eliminated.
Target has a market capitalization of $43.28 billion at the time of writing, compared to Walmart’s $849.75 billion and Amazon’s $2.38 trillion.
Related: Walmart’s U.S. CEO Says ‘Resilient’ American Shoppers Are Opening Their Wallets and Spending
Key Takeaways
- Target is laying off 1,000 corporate employees next Tuesday and cutting 800 open roles.
- Target’s incoming CEO, Michael Fiddelke, sent staff a memo on Thursday afternoon informing them of the upcoming layoffs.
- An anonymous Target employee said workers were in a state of “total panic” after receiving the memo as they tried to determine whether they were “essential” to the company.
Target on Thursday informed staff of its first major corporate workforce reduction in a decade as the retailer tries to revitalize growth after four consecutive years of sluggish sales.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the cuts affect approximately 1,800 positions, including 1,000 layoffs and 800 open roles. The move will reduce Target’s 22,000-person global corporate staff by around 8%, with 80% of the cuts affecting U.S. employees. Target is primarily reducing corporate employees based at its headquarters; the layoffs do not affect store or supply chain workers.
The rest of this article is locked.
Join Entrepreneur+ today for access.
