Bad news for Walmart with around 1,500 layoffs: these are the jobs at risk under the company’s new U.S. plans

Walmart, the globe’s top retailer, has reportedly opted to lay off around 1,500 employees at its Arkansas headquarters.

Tech team affected by layoffs

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the American chain, which says it employs around 1.6 million people throughout the U.S., is cutting jobs in its technology team.

Walmart warns of tariff impact

The move comes a week after Walmart complained of the financial consequences of President Donald Trump’s aggressive program of tariffs on products imported into the U.S.

Speaking to CNBC last Thursday, Walmart chief financial officer John David Rainey warned that the company will be forced to pass its increased costs on to its customers in the near future.

“We’re wired for everyday low prices, but the magnitude of these increases is more than any retailer can absorb,” Rainey said.

“It’s more than any supplier can absorb. And so I’m concerned that [the] consumer is going to start seeing higher prices.

“You’ll begin to see that, likely towards the tail end of this month, and then certainly much more in June.”

However, USA Today has quoted a Walmart spokesperson as saying the technology-team layoffs are nothing to do with Trump’s tariffs.

“Growth strategy”

The job cuts are a result of the retailer’s “business priorities and our growth strategy,” Walmart’s global communications director, Nick DeMoss, told the media outlet.

A world-leading retailer

The world’s largest company by revenue - it has topped the Fortune Global 500 list every year for just over a decade - Walmart has 4,600 stores in the U.S.

In addition to its e-commerce websites for domestic and international customers, the retailer has a further 5,500 in-person locations outside of America.

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