Target CEO Brian Cornell Steps Down after 11 Years

Target CEO Brian Cornell Steps Down from Leadership Role after 11 Years

Source: Cheng Xin / Getty

Target CEO Brian Cornell is stepping down after 11 years at the retailer, as the company faces slumping sales and backlash to its retreat on DEI.

Cornell’s departure was widely expected. Some industry analysts believed Target should bring in an outside voice to lead the company, but it opted for an internal candidate: Cornell will be replaced on February 1, 2026, by Michael Fiddelke, Target’s current chief operating officer. Fiddelke started as an intern at Target and has been at the company for 20 years.

Fiddelke was chosen from a “strong list of external and internal candidates,” Cornell said on a call with analysts Wednesday, adding that he is the “right candidate to lead our business back to growth.”

Cornell will stay on as executive chairman. He took over in 2014 and revitalized Target, overseeing a strategy to remodel stores and strengthen the chain’s online business to compete with Amazon.

Target’s stock drop reflects many investors’ belief that the chain needed to go in a new direction with its choice of CEO. Some analysts criticized Target’s board for choosing an insider who has helped develop Target’s current strategy.

“This an internal appointment that does not necessarily remedy the problems of entrenched groupthink and the inward-looking mindset that have plagued Target for years,” Neil Saunders, an analyst at GlobalData Retail, said in a note to clients Wednesday. “Target, which used to be very attuned to consumer demand, has lost its grip on delivering for the American shopper.”

information from this article was sourced from CNN