Yahoo Finance

Walmart CEO explains how big investments are now paying off

Walmart has been named Yahoo Finance's 2024 Company of the Year. Its stock is up nearly 80% year to date, and sales are booming. Why? In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon explains how pre-pandemic investments are starting to pay off. "We invested in wages for our associates. We invested in our people, things like education. We invested in lower prices, we invested in e-commerce, we invested in technology, all within a pretty tight period of time," he said. One thing that's helping to boost the bottom line is the type of customer Walmart (WMT) is drawing in. The company says it is increasingly attracting more higher-income consumers. McMillon thinks that convenience has been drawing a different customer base. He also discusses inflation, noting that the prices for general merchandise are falling faster than food items. A top-of-mind topic for many CEOs right now is the threat of a trade war, with President-elect Trump threatening to enact more tariffs. McMillon thinks Walmart is "positioned to manage" tariffs but worries that customers may see higher prices, even though the retail giant plans to "do everything we can to try and keep them low." There's one technology McMillon is excited about — generative AI. "It's going to help us be more anticipatory for customers and members ... The world will look more like personal shopping assistance than it will an old-fashioned search bar with a laundry list of results that you and I then have to work through as a customer. Just saving us time, making it more convenient, helping us solve problems," McMillon said of the tech. Watch the video above to hear what McMillon expects for Walmart over the next 10 years. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here. This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.