Walmart loses its CTO

Walmart Inc. Chief Technology Officer Jeremy King is departing the mega-retailer after eight years, according to a report from Reuters, citing an internal company memo.

Under King’s watch, Walmart’s e-commerce technology platform became faster and more competitive and user-friendly, and the company’s stores began rolling out programs such as expanded online grocery delivery, in-store pickup of online orders, and easy returns.

He also headed the Walmart Labs technology division, which completed more than 10 acquisitions, and played a major role in shifting the company’s operations to the cloud, providing the retailer with more ammunition to do battle with Amazon.

Walmart is currently in the midst of making significant investments in its ecommerce operations to better compete. In its recently reported Q4 2019 earnings, ecommerce sales were up 43 percent, which Walmart attributed to a wider range of items available online and better delivery, in addition store pickup of online grocery orders.