Bloomberg reports that Walmart yesterday replaced Jenny Fleiss, who has run its New York City-based Jetblack concierge service since its launch a year ago, with Nate Faust, a senior vice president of logistics for the company’s online business.
The story says that the move "could presage a spinoff of the unprofitable venture … The shuffle was an open secret for weeks inside Walmart and could precede a sale or spinoff of Jetblack, which was a pet project of U.S. online chief Marc Lore and the first business to emerge from Walmart’s internal incubation arm. Jetblack promised to deliver just about anything to busy city dwellers for $50 a month, but it has proved costly to operate and never expanded beyond doormen-serviced buildings in New York City."
The story says that Fleiss "is taking a new advisory role reporting to Janey Whiteside, Walmart’s chief customer officer."
The story says that the move "could presage a spinoff of the unprofitable venture … The shuffle was an open secret for weeks inside Walmart and could precede a sale or spinoff of Jetblack, which was a pet project of U.S. online chief Marc Lore and the first business to emerge from Walmart’s internal incubation arm. Jetblack promised to deliver just about anything to busy city dwellers for $50 a month, but it has proved costly to operate and never expanded beyond doormen-serviced buildings in New York City."
The story says that Fleiss "is taking a new advisory role reporting to Janey Whiteside, Walmart’s chief customer officer."
- KC's View:
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It would appear that what we are seeing is a slow but inexorable shedding of non-core businesses by Walmart. It may not be total, and it may try to keep its toes in the water wherever possible. But it may be that Marc Lore's vision of what Walmart should look like is losing to more traditional views of the company's future.
