30 Interesting Things We Bet You Didn't Know About Doug McMillon

31 December 2018, 4:07 pm EST By Ruby Karnick

Doug McMillon, the president and chief executive officer of Walmart Inc, the multinational retail corporation, is credited for implementation of better strategies that has helped the company in the face off with modern giants such as Amazon. Here are some fascinating facts about the American businessman:

McMillon became the fifth CEO of Walmart Inc., on February 1, 2014, replacing Mike Duke. The company, as of October 2018, has 11,277 stores and clubs in 27 countries, operating under 55 different names.
He is the youngest CEO, as he took the job at the age of 47, to lead the company in its history of 50+ years, ever since its founder Sam Walton, who was only 44 years at that time.
His period of taking over was reportedly a time of slowing growth as well as steadily increasing rival competition from Amazon, Costco, Kroger and Safeway.
He was born on October 17, 1966, in Memphis, Tennessee to Morris McMillon and Laura. He grew up in Jonesbro, Arkansas along with his two other siblings.
He is sports enthusiast, who played point guard on the Bentonville High School basketball team.
He had been working only for Walmart from the start of his career, as he initially joined as a summer associate unloading trucks in a distribution center.
He graduated with a bachelor's degree in the year 1989, from the University of Arkansas. He did his Master of Business Administration from University of Tulsa in 1990.
After the completion of his MBA, he joined as an assistant manager at the Tulsa, Oklahoma branch store in the year 1990.
In the year 1991, following is completion of MBA, he joined the buyer-training program in Walmart's Bentonville headquarters, initially incharge of buying fishing tackle.
Then, McMillon went on to become the general merchandise manager for Walmart's wholesale store division Sam's Club.

He took up the executive role at Walmart, in which he oversaw electronics, sports goods and toys, among other areas, before moving into other management roles.
On August 4, 2005, McMillon was promoted as the president and CEO of Sam's Club. During this period he emphasized on marketing to small business customers.
It was while his time as CEO of Sam's Club, that he incorporated "treasure hunt" items, as termed by The Wall Street Journal that are limited-selection expensive premium items for sale. This “treasure hunt” technique was McMillon’s move to compete with Costco.
In February 2009, he was moved to Walmart's International Division from Sam's Club, replacing Mike Duke, who became the CEO of Walmart Stores, Inc.
McMillon was initially hesitant to take up the role as the Head of International Division, as the job description required travelling to different places. He had a young child at that time and was not willing to miss the moments with his kid.
During his period in International Division, he focused on improving existing markets like China, Canada, America and United Kingdom. His important move as the head of international division of Walmart, was to integrate "everyday low prices" model in the markets worldwide.
He led the major acquisition of South Africa's Massmart Holdings Ltd, for US $2.4 billion, in which Walmart bought a majority stake.
In McMillon's tenure, the international sales reportedly grew to 29 percent of the company wide sales and even outpaced Walmart US.
Within the period of 2009 to 2013, as McMillon as the head of division, the number of stores in countries worldwide nearly doubled - from 3,300 stores in 14 countries to 6,300 companies in 26 countries.
On November 25, 2013, Walmart announced that McMillon would join the board of directors and within 3 months become the fifth CEO of the company.

Within the first two years of his tenure as CEO, he raised wages for hourly workers in the United States and also revamped Walmart's executive team. While these moves lowered the short term profits of the company, McMillon argued that these moves would bring about better customer service with happier workers, leading to a better footing in the retail market.
In February 2015, he raised the lowest wage to US$9 per hour and announced that the company would invest an additional of US$2.7 billion, and the next year, it was again increased to US$10 an hour.
He started the initiative to replace all the lights in the UK, US, Asia and Latin America stores with LED lights for energy efficiency, as an effort to improve company's environment sustainability.
He stressed on creating a "seamless shopping experience," and announced in investing US$1 billion in online operations, in 2015.
At the Davos World Economic Forum, McMillon announced that the Walmart would press three of its main goals starting from January 2016 - supply the company with renewable energy, eliminate waste and promote sustainably packaged goods.
On March 31, 2015, he issued a statement urging Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson to veto the state's "religious freedom" bill, as he claimed that the bill "threatens to undermine the spirit of inclusion present throughout the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold."
Following the shooting of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina in June 2015, he announced that Walmart would stop selling Confederate flag merchandise.
McMillon announced that the company would cease the sales of military-style semiautomatic weapons, and that the selection of firearms would be geared towards hunters and sports shooters, in August 2015.
He was named as one among the "World's Most Powerful People" by Forbes from the year 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. ExecRank was ranked McMillon at #4, in its 2015 list of top CEOs for large companies.
Doug serves as an advisor in President Donald Trump’s board, but rebuked the President’s actions towards the protests in Charlottesville in the year 2017.