Target appoints lifelong employee as new CEO in effort to halt sliding sales
After more than two decades at the company, joining first as a college intern in 2003, chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke is set for a tenth promotion on February 1, 2026.
The company announced Wednesday that he will succeed current chief executive Brian Cornell, who is expected to transition to executive chair of the board.
Fiddelke, 49, will take over as Target experiences a sustained period of sluggish results, losing market share to the likes of Walmart and Amazon, which some consumers perceive as having lower prices and better items.
'We've got to get back to growth,' Fiddelke told reporters beside Cornell in a joint statement at the company's Minneapolis headquarters. 'That is mission 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.'
For over two years, the company's sales have been either flat or falling as competitors have adopted a similar trendy yet affordable approach to their merchandise, compounded by backlash and boycotts over its reversals in diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
A companywide survey released in early June found about 40 percent of the around 260,000 staffers who replied said they didn't have confidence in Target's future, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.
Target revealed on Wednesday that sales from stores and digital channels in operation for at least a year plunged 1.9 percent in the most recent quarter. It marks the 11th consecutive quarter of flat or slumping sales.
Out of 35 merchandise categories that Target tracks, just 14 gained or maintained market share in that period, Fiddelke said Tuesday.
Fiddelke pointed to supply-chain chaos and a sales boost stemming from the early Covid-19 pandemic, as consumers broadly purchased more items amid lockdowns.
The shopper experience, he said, had degraded with products often out of stock and stores being strained by also acting as e-commerce shipping hubs.
'We've got some work to do to untangle that complexity because what we can't have is any hiccups in the store experience,' Fiddelke said.
To turn things around at the company, which shoppers once affectionately called 'Tar-zhay,' Fiddelke promised to refocus on its 'North Star': stylish, unique merchandise and excellent customer experiences.
Fiddelke's first taste of a career at Target occurred after landing an internship in 2003 while studying for a master's degree in business administration at Northwestern University, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He joined the company as a financial analyst the following year. He began climbing his way through nine positions before emerging as chief operating officer and executive vice president in January 2024.
Cornell, his predecessor, took the helm at Target in August 2014. In September 2022, the board extended the 66-year-old's contract for an additional three years, eliminating a policy requiring its chief executives to retire at 65.
While Cornell helped to reenergize the company, he struggled to turn around weak sales in a more competitive, post-pandemic retail landscape.
Now, the outgoing CEO says Fiddelke is the 'right' person to replace him.
'Mike was the right candidate to lead our business back to growth,' Cornell told reporters. 'As I arrived at Target, I consistently relied on Michael's strategic insights and sound judgment when making decisions. Michael has developed a deeper knowledge of our business than anyone I know.'
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