By WSJ City

Walmart is hiring a former executive from Amazon and Google to lead global technology, creating a new senior role as the world's biggest retailer ramps up its efforts to take on Amazon.

KEY FACTS

--- Suresh Kumar will become Walmart's global chief technology officer and chief development officer.

--- Kumar will oversee both consumer-facing and internal technology efforts.

--- Walmart is working to becoming an increasingly tech-focused company. It's buying up e-commerce startups...

--- ...investing heavily in online sales, adding more grocery-delivery options and looking to up its digital ad revenue.

Online Dividends

Quarterly sales at Walmart have risen steadily for over four years, as lower prices and online investments help the retail behemoth grab market share from weaker retail competitors and online sales rise. Those efforts have hit profits, leading Walmart to increasingly focus on cutting costs elsewhere. Walmart's e-commerce sales are still a small percentage of overall sales, around $15.7bn in the US as of last fiscal year ended Jan. 31.

A fuller story is available on WSJ.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 29, 2019 07:54 ET (11:54 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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