Mike Duke to Retire as Walmart Ceo

Mike Duke, the third ceo of Walmart Stores Inc. (Bentonville, Ark.) since founder Sam Walton stepped down in 1988, has announced he will retire “early next year.”

Doug McMillon, 47, a Walmart lifer who is currently head of the international business, will replace Duke at that time and will join the Walmart board immediately.

McMillon had long been identified as one of two top candidates to some day replace Duke. The other was Bill Simon, head of U.S. operations. However, McMillon, who joined Walmart as a summer employee in 1984, was said to have close ties to the Walton family, which owns about half of the retailer’s shares.

Wal-Mart is now said to be at risk of losing Simon, who is seven years older than McMillon.

Bloomberg News reported that Duke told the Walmart board earlier this year that he wanted to retire but would stay on as long as needed. The ceo search started in earnest in May and initially included outside candidates.

But McMillon is clearly an inside candidate. After first going to work at Walmart in Tulsa, Okla., in 1984 – as a summer associate in a distribution center – he worked his way up the organizational ladder, in both U.S. and international operations. He was president and ceo of the Sam’s Club division from 2006 to 2009.

He will be the company’s youngest ceo since Walton.

The company said it will announce McMillon’s replacement at the head of international business by the end of its fiscal year. A leading candidate is considered to be Cathy Smith, currently cfo of the division.

Duke was named ceo in November 2008, following Lee Scott – who had followed David Glass – as Sam Walton successors. All, like McMillon, worked their way up through the Walmart ranks. Each had challenges specific to their times, whether it be the challenges of international expansion or a slumping economy or trying to introduce a supermarket operation or upgrading the fashion offering or aggressive competition from other mass-merchandise retailers such as Target Corp. (Minneapolis). None of them probably anticipated that the next ceo would have, as his number one problem, what to do about Amazon.com.