Target CEO to step down amid company struggles
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Business Insider
4 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Centerbridge's cofounder says Wall Street is missing great hires
Wall Street's best hires don't look anything like the résumés it worships, said Jeff Aronson, a cofounder of Centerbridge Partners, a private equity firm managing more than $42 billion in assets. "I joke with people I couldn't get a job at my own firm," Aronson said in the Goldman Sachs "Exchanges" podcast on July 16. "I didn't go to an Ivy League school. I didn't graduate Phi Beta Kappa. I don't speak six languages. I didn't discover the cure for cancer when I was nine years old," he said in the recording uploaded on Tuesday. Aronson came up through Johns Hopkins, where he earned a BA with honors, and NYU School of Law, a path outside the Ivy League track that dominates Wall Street recruiting. US News and World Report ranks Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins sixth on its top national universities list. Wall Street is often stereotyped as an Ivy League stronghold. But data from Revelio Labs showed that only 11.7% of New York-based front-office workers at top firms — including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup — graduated from Ivy-plus schools, defined as the Ivy League plus Chicago, Stanford, Duke, and MIT. For Aronson, credentials aren't what make someone a great investor. What matters is mindset, he said. "Attributes, it's the same thing that you folks look for: people who are smart and hardworking and driven," he said. But he also prizes people who are "really intellectually curious." That's partly why he believes Wall Street keeps overlooking promising talent. "So we're all scrambling and tripping over ourselves, looking for the same people," Aronson said. But the real edge comes from hiring those who think independently, he said. He recalled asking candidates whether they compared notes with friends on the buy side — a question he phrased to encourage a "yes." But what he actually wanted to hear was a "no" — because he wanted people who would do their own work, and make their own decisions. That contrarian streak has also shaped where he looks for talent. Rather than only competing for the same Ivy League graduates as every other firm, Aronson also turned his attention to the City University of New York. With over 240,000 degree-program students, CUNY is the largest public urban university in the US, but one that few Wall Street recruiters seriously consider. "I met some of these kids, and they were smart and they were hardworking. But you know what else they had? They had grit. There was no millennial stuff," he said. "Zero. They had grit. Most of them worked their way through school. And so we started hiring them. And all they wanted — it reminded me a little like when I started. 'I just want a chance. Give me a chance,'" Aronson said. "And we started hiring these kids, and they were great," he said. Calling CUNY "the undiscovered jewel that no one's thinking about," Aronson has partnered with John Waldron, president of Goldman, and billionaire Mike Bloomberg to invest millions into programs linking its students with finance jobs. The initiative, he added, has been a win for everyone involved: "It's been a huge win for these students. It's been great for New York City. And it's been smart business."
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Target's CEO is stepping down as customers turn away
Target CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down after 11 years at the retailer, as the company faces slumping sales and backlash to its retreat on DEI. Cornell's departure was widely expected. Some industry analysts believed Target should bring in an outside voice to lead the company, but it opted for an internal candidate: Cornell will be replaced on February 1, 2026, by Michael Fiddelke, Target's current chief operating officer. Fiddelke started as an intern at Target and has been at the company for 20 years. Fiddelke was chosen from a 'strong list of external and internal candidates,' Cornell said on a call with analysts Wednesday, adding that he is the 'right candidate to lead our business back to growth.' Cornell will stay on as executive chairman. He took over in 2014 and revitalized Target, overseeing a strategy to remodel stores and strengthen the chain's online business to compete with Amazon. But Target has been in a deep slump for years, a result largely of its own strategic missteps. The company has struggled as customers have purchased less of its home goods and clothing. Target has also faced intense competition from Walmart, Amazon and Costco. Target on Wednesday reported sales fell for the third-straight quarter. Shares fell 10% in premarket trading. Target's (TGT) stock is among the worst performing companies in the S&P 500 this year. Target's stock drop reflects many investors' belief that the chain needed to go in a new direction with its choice of CEO. Some analysts criticized Target's board for choosing an insider who has helped develop Target's current strategy. 'This an internal appointment that does not necessarily remedy the problems of entrenched groupthink and the inward-looking mindset that have plagued Target for years,' Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, said in a note to clients Wednesday. 'Target, which used to be very attuned to consumer demand, has lost its grip on delivering for the American shopper.' DEI retreat and shopper slowdown The last three years have been unkind to target, but 2025 has been particularly tumultuous. Earlier this year, the company ended some of its DEI programs. The decision angered supporters of diversity and inclusion policies, who felt blindsided by Target. Customers online protested Target's decision, and Anne and Lucy Dayton, the daughters of one of Target's co-founders, called the company's actions 'a betrayal.' Target acknowledged its move hurt its sales. 'People re-evaluated and started driving extra miles to go to other places,' Rev. Jamal Bryant, who led a boycott against Target, told CNN. 'We felt like it was a stark betrayal.' Target wasn't the only company to roll back DEI policies, but came under more pressure because it had more deeply ingrained diversity and inclusion programs into the core of its business. Target also has a more progressive base of customers than many competitors. Tariffs and a consumer slowdown have put even more pressure on Target. Target is known for its trendier items, and the chain stocks more nonessential merchandise than its competitors. More than half of Target's merchandise is discretionary. But that merchandise has slumped as shoppers spend more on essentials such as food and household basics. Around half of Walmart's business, for example, comes from groceries. Target also imports about half of its merchandise, compared to roughly 33% at Walmart, so it needs to raise prices at almost double the rate of Walmart to mitigate the tariff impact, Bank of America analyst Robert Ohmes said in a report this week. Rocky tenure Target's recent struggles are a reversal of Cornell's early years at the retailer. In 2018, Target reported its best results in a decade. The following year, Cornell was named CNN Business' CEO of the Year for leading a turnaround at Target. The company thrived at a time when many brick-and-mortar stores were closing. 'Target has earned a place in the retail winners' circle by investing in our business and staying true to our guests and our purpose,' Cornell told CNN in 2019. Target also boomed during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 as shoppers rushed to stores to purchase essentials, home goods, office supplies and other merchandise. The company's home goods also proved popular as stuck-at-home Americans looked to improve their living spaces when they couldn't venture outside. But Target began to falter in 2022. The chain bought too much merchandise, so it had to deal with a glut of unsold inventory just as decades-high inflation pressured the wallets of many of its shoppers. Post-pandemic, shoppers stopped buying up treadmills, TVs and home goods – especially as inflation started to bite. A year later, activists and customers on the right attacked Target on social media for its LGBTQ-themed merchandise during Pride Month. Target employees faced threats over items such as bathing suits designed for transgender people, and the company removed them from stores. Misinformation spread on social media that the swimsuits were marketed to children, which they were not. The backlash led to a drop in sales and lawsuits from Republican-aligned legal groups. 'We must improve' Fiddelke said Target 'must improve' and the company is 'not realizing our full potential right now' on a call with analysts Wednesday. He outlined a plan to bring trendier merchandise to Target, make its stores more appealing to visit and to invest in technology. This includes an initiative called 'Fun 101,' which seeks to capitalize on the latest trends for electronics and home goods. The company has been able to navigate tariffs so far, he said, and will raise prices as a last resort. Target has changed some of its merchandise selection to mitigate the impact of tariffs. Analysts are mixed as to whether Target's issues are easily solvable or if drastic changes are necessary to revive to the business. 'Target's long-term outlook is deteriorating,' Ohmes said. 'Target is falling behind peers and has tougher challenges.' CNN's Ryan Young contributed to this article. This story has been updated with additional developments and context.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Walmart reveals plans for game-changing addition to store parking lots: 'We're talking about thousands of locations'
Walmart has shared fresh details about plans to roll out a massive network of electric vehicle chargers across the United States, Charged EVs reported. In 2023, the company announced that it would install chargers at thousands of Walmart and Sam's Club locations by 2030. Three pilot sites are now open, with two in Texas and one in Arkansas. "We're talking about thousands of locations with tens of thousands of chargers online by the end of this decade," according to charging industry expert Tom Moloughney. Drivers will be able to start a charging session through the Walmart app by scanning a code on the charger, per Charged EVs. Walmart operates more than 5,200 stores across the country, and 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of a Walmart or Sam's Club, the company estimates. This broad reach means the rollout can make fast public charging more accessible to millions of drivers who struggle to find a place to charge their vehicle. The average gas-powered car releases over 5 tons of harmful air-polluting carbon each year. EVs, on the other hand, produce no tailpipe pollution. Even plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles produce far less tailpipe pollution than gasoline vehicles. EVs are not only better for the environment, but they're also better for your wallet. EV owners spend about 60% less each year on fuel or charging costs than owners of comparable gasoline vehicles. In this case, prices at Walmart and Sam's Club could be lower than the cost of charging at other stations — Moloughney paid about 42 cents for each kilowatt-hour of electricity at one site, slightly less than other options in the area. Would you be more likely to drive an EV if you could charge it in 5 minutes? Yes Depends on the cost No way I already have an EV Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Walmart's new stations will be powerful enough to add hundreds of miles of driving range in less than half an hour, Charged EVs added. The retailer's stations will feature the two main types of fast-charging plugs in the U.S., which are CCS1, used by most non-Tesla electric cars, and NACS, the slimmer plug design created by Tesla that many carmakers are adopting. Other major companies are making similar investments — Ikea has expanded EV charging access at its stores, for example. For customers with EVs, this news could mean faster charging and more access to stations, reducing travel planning stress and making EV ownership even more practical. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
