The CEO of Target is stepping down, as the embattled retail giant seeks to turn around its fortunes amid an ongoing customer boycott over its scaling back of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Brian Cornell will be replaced next year by , Target’s chief operating officer, the company said on Wednesday.
Cornell helped re-energize the company when he became CEO in 2014, but has struggled to turn around weak sales in a more competitive retail landscape since the Covid pandemic.
Sales at Target, which has almost 2,000 stores across the US, fell more than expected in the first quarter of 2025, and the retailer warned earlier this year that sales will continue to slip through the rest of the year. Target said people were scaling back spending over worries about the impact of tariffs and the state of the economy. The company also said customer boycotts affected sales.
The company scaled back many DEI initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House.
The retreat created a backlash, and a poll in February found that Americans had changed their shopping habits and abandoned some stores in response to corporations shifting their policies to align with the Trump administration.
The Guardian reported in July that many Black Americans were boycotting stores including Target and Amazon, and earlier this year more than 250,000 people signed a pledge to boycott Target after the Rev Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Baptist church in Georgia, called for a 40-day “Target Fast” that started at the beginning of the Lenten season.
The company had previously come under fire in 2024 after it reduced its collection of LGBTQ+-themed merchandise for Pride month, in response to rightwing criticism.
Target reported a 21% drop in net income in second quarter of this year. Sales were down slightly and the company reported a 1.9% dip in comparable sales – those from established physical stores and online channels. The company has seen flat or declining comparable sales in eight out of the past 10 quarters including the latest period.
