Wal-Mart gets a new CEO: Doug McMillon replaces Mike Duke

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s board members on Monday elected a new chief executive and president to replace Mike Duke, 63.

Doug McMillon, 47, is scheduled to take the reins on Feb. 1, the company said, about four years after Duke stepped into the roles in 2009.

McMillon is currently the chief executive of Wal-Mart International. His successor is to be announced by the end of the Bentonville, Ark.-based company’s fiscal year.

Duke will stay on as chairman of the executive committee of the board and, per tradition, will also advise McMillon for a year, the company said. The company said he ultimately plans to retire.

McMillon, who first joined Wal-Mart as a summer associate at a distribution center in 1984, will immediately join the company’s board.

Wal-Mart made the announcement just days before heading into Black Friday, traditionally the busiest day of the shopping season. In a challenging retail environment marked by precious few strong months this year, Wal-Mart is planning to launch its doorbuster deals hours earlier on Thanksgiving Day.

“This leadership change comes at a time of strength and growth at Wal-Mart,” Rob Walton, chairman of Wal-Mart’s board of directors and a scion of its founding family, said in a statement.

In morning trading in New York, Wal-Mart stock was up less than a percent, or 57 cents, to $80.38 a share. In Duke’s tenure, to date, the stock has risen 90%.

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