FOX Business’ Gerri Willis reports new data pointing to a tougher holiday shopping season as the government shutdown continues at “Varney & Co.”
Target is cutting about 1,000 positions across the company and eliminating 800 vacant positions in an effort to accelerate business decision-making and drive growth under its new chief executive, Michael Fiddelke.
Fiddelke, who will succeed Brian Cornell as CEO in February, has focused on ways to accelerate the work of enterprise teams, transforming the company into a simpler, faster organization to drive innovation. This includes eliminating layers of management.
About 80% of the eliminated positions are U.S.-based, with the majority concentrated in the Minneapolis area, where the company is headquartered, and in leadership positions. Target said people in management positions were three times more likely to be laid off than other employees.
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The cuts will represent 8% of the company’s global headquarters team.
“To better serve our customers, we are prioritizing the need to work faster and reduce the complexity that has been created over time. This is particularly important in the context of a rapidly evolving business landscape,” Fiddelke said, adding that the announcement “is an important step toward our key priorities: strengthening our retail leadership in style and design, improving the customer experience, and expanding the way we use technology to fuel our next chapter of growth.”
Shoppers at a Target store in Chicago. (Kamil Krzacynski/AFP via Getty Images)
Affected employees will receive benefits and be paid through early January in addition to any severance they were offered, Target said.
Fiddelke said in a memo to employees Thursday that since the company launched the Enterprise Acceleration Office in May, it has continued its mission to “move faster and simplify the way we work to drive Target’s next chapter of growth.”
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As an executive who has overseen the initiative since its launch, Fiddelke has explored ways to improve cross-functional collaboration and advance key priorities. This includes streamlining processes across the company and leveraging technology and data in new ways to empower teams and accelerate performance since its launch.
A customer enters a Target store in Sausalito, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“The truth is that the complexity we have created over time has held us back. Too many layers and overlaps of work have slowed down decisions, making it harder to bring ideas to fruition,” Fiddelke said in the memo to employees.
Fiddelke said all U.S. headquarters team members will be asked to work from home next week, but that Target in India and its other global teams will follow their office routines.
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Fiddelke, who has worked at Target for more than two decades, said that while the decision to make these reductions was difficult, they will aim to “set the course for our company to be stronger, faster and better positioned to serve customers and communities for many years to come.”
A customer leaves a Target store in Rosemead, Los Angeles County, California on March 4, 2025. (Zeng Hui/Xinhua via Getty Images)
In Fiddelke’s current role as Target’s COO, he has overseen efforts that have enabled exponential growth across the company, including investments to build and expand the company’s stores, supply chain, digital capabilities and team. He also led companies’ efforts to realize more than $2 billion in efficiencies.
He now faces a new challenge: turning around a retailer that is experiencing declining store traffic and profit pressures, partly because of tariffs.
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In its most recent fiscal quarter, the company reported revenue of $25.2 billion, down 0.9% from the same period last year. The company blamed the decline on shoppers turning away from goods, although this was partly offset by stronger sales of non-merchant products, such as services.
| Teleprinter | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TGT | TARGET CORP. | 94.22 | +0.17 |
+0.19% |
Sales at stores open at least a year fell 1.9%, with in-store sales falling more than 3%. Online sales, on the other hand, increased by just over 4%. Overall, operating profit for the quarter was $1.3 billion, down about 19.4% from the same period last year.
