Target boss out after 11 years — proof that missing DEI is bad for business

Target is replacing its longtime CEO Brian Cornell due to a slump in sales that was contributed to in no small part by the company’s decision to retreat on its DEI policies.

Cornell’s reign at the top of the retail store began in 2014, and CNN gives him credit for revolutionizing the company’s e-commerce branch, which enabled it to be competitive against Amazon. During the turn of the decade, when a lot of companies decided to acknowledge their hiring practices had had a blind spot that prevented them from considering a more diversified pool of talent, Target volunteered to reconsider its policies and promised to take steps toward creating a more diversified and welcoming pool of employees.

That all changed when Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in the 2024 elections. Trump came in swinging with thinly veiled threats toward companies that maintained their DEI policies. According to the president and his political allies, that was a form of reverse racism and this was the age of a “vibe shift.” And immediately, companies that wanted the favor of the administration of the day started removing their commitment to DEI policies from their websites. Hollywood studios instantaneously flipping on DEI didn’t surprise anyone because that’s a largely amorphous industry that once even booed whoever opposed the Iraq war at the Oscars.

However, when a company like Target also followed suit, that for most Americans was unacceptable. According to CNN, even Anne and Lucy Dayton, the daughters of Target’s co-founder, publicly called the move “a betrayal.” And that led to one of the most widespread and uncoordinated boycotts in modern history. Target share prices fell for three straight quarters, and the latest 10% fall was enough to end Cornell’s time at the top of the company.

That’s not to say that the move was immediately welcome and celebrated by industry experts. To market analysts, this move might simply not be enough. Cornell is expected to leave his seat as CEO in Feb. 2026. He’s going to be replaced by the company’s chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke. Cornell is then going to be retained as the executive chairman of the board.

Market analyst Neil Saunders criticized this move, saying, “This is an internal appointment that does not necessarily remedy the problems of entrenched groupthink and the inward-looking mindset that have plagued Target for years.” According to Saunders, this is a sign that the company has lost its grip on how they can still deliver to the modern-day American shopper.

Business ultimately will always have its winners and losers. And as is clear here — it’s hard to read the forecast on what move to make next even for professionals in the field whose main job has always been to predict what will happen next. So maybe Saunders’ reading is not correct and this slight change will be enough to help Target get out of the woods.

But here it seems that they lost consumers’ trust in no small part because they were willing to abandon popular initiatives at the behest of one man. In MAGA circles, they have a popular celebratory tag when someone loses a job chasing liberal values: Go Woke, Go Broke. I suppose yet another vibe shift might be upon us.