It isn’t just social media giants and life sciences startups laying off tech workers in the Bay Area. Walmart, the countest’s largest brick-and-mortar retailer, is now cutting up to 106 staffers of its own.
The Arkansas-headquartered giant revealed the layoffs in a May 23 WARN document filed with California officials, as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, writing that some of the 106 office workers who report to San Bruno offices could relocate or find new work at Walmart, but for those who don’t, the layoffs will be permanent. Engineers and data scientists were listed in the document among the cuts, as were various managers in finance, marketing, creative and operations.
The document declared laid-off workers would be eligible for severance pay and various support services. The Wall Street Journal reported that around 1,500 people total might lose their jobs in the companywide cut, citing an anonymous source.
Walmart’s California WARN notice offered typical language for layoffs in 2025, hinting at cuts to middle management and a broader push to enliven its ranks of staffers. It declared: “Walmart is reshaping some teams in our Global Tech and Walmart U.S. organizations where we have identified opportunities to rerelocate layers and complexity, speed up decision-creating, and assist associates innovate rapidly.”
A May 21 memo sent to Walmart’s office staff by global Chief Technology Officer Suresh Kumar and U.S. CEO John Furner — and provided to SFGATE on Wednesday — utilized the same phrases. Titled “Building for the future,” it also pointed to operations, marketing and tech teams as areas of focus in the restructuring.
“The world of technology is evolving at an unprecedented pace, and reshaping our structure allows us to accelerate how we deliver and adapt to the modifying environment around us,” the memo declared.
In other words, Walmart is pinning these cuts on a push for efficiency rather than on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs. But those policies are certainly affecting the retailer. Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey informed CNBC in mid-May that though the company was “testing to navigate this the best that we can,” price increases were on the way due to the Trump administration’s raising the cost of imports.
Trump lashed out in response, pointing to Walmart’s billions of dollars in profit in 2024 in a post to Truth Social. He added: “Between Walmart and China they should, as is declared, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”
Work at a Bay Area tech company and want to talk? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.
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