BENTONVILLE, AR - While Jet.com and Walmart have been operating in tandem since the latter acquired the former two years ago—a $3.3 billion acquisition—Walmart will now be absorbing the online platform into its own e-commerce operations. This will include Jet.com’s President Simon Belsham exiting the company in August of 2019, while the rest of the company’s employees will join Walmart—no layoffs will occur, a source disclosed to Yahoo! Finance.
“Bringing together talent from Jet and Walmart into joint teams has created more opportunity for our business and our people. We’re now merging the rest of our Jet teams, including Retail, Marketing, Technology, Analytics, Product, and several others within Walmart,” Marc Lore, President and CEO of Walmart E-Commerce U.S., wrote in a blog post. “With the teams creating synergy and Jet becoming even more focused, we don’t have the same need for a dedicated leader, so Jet President, Simon Belsham, will be supporting the Jet transition through early August. Simon has been critical in repositioning Jet to reach urban customers. His steadfast leadership, deep knowledge of the retail industry, and passion for our associates and customers had a positive impact on our organization. I can’t thank him enough for all he has done and appreciate his leadership and contributions.”
Following Belsham’s departure, Walmart’s own Kieran Shanahan, the current SVP E-Commerce, will manage Jet, in addition to overseeing the Food, Consumables, and Health and Wellness Categories for Walmart E-Commerce. Shanahan first joined the Walmart team through Asda, before transitioning to the Walmart E-Commerce team in 2014. He has helped the retailer build out its U.S. online grocery service, and in his new role, Walmart expects him to be integral in positioning Jet strategically within its portfolio.
“This natural progression of integrating an acquisition allows us to fully leverage Walmart’s assets for Jet and leverage Jet’s talent for Walmart,” Marc continued. “The focus has largely been on N.Y. so far, and we’re looking at other cities where we might bring together Jet’s expertise and the scale and operating model of Walmart…We’re proud of the work our associates have done. Our teams are continuing to innovate, and we’ll be bringing more incredible experiences to customers and associates.”
How will this integration play out on a national and international scale? AndNowUKnow will continue to keep you up to date.
