Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The Women's World Cup shows a growing market for female sports gamblers, Taiwan responds to its #MeToo-like movement, and Walmart pulls off a rare female CEO-to-female CEO handoff. Have a meaningful Thursday!
- CEO-ready. For the past five years, Judith McKenna has headed Walmart's $100-billion international business. A 27-year Walmart veteran, McKenna reshaped the mega-retailer's global presence, selling off operations in Japan, Argentina, and the U.K and doubling down on key markets like Mexico, Canada and China.
She oversaw Walmart's $16-billion stake in India's Flipkart, the company's biggest deal ever at the time (and one that Fortune alum Beth Kowitt dived into in a 2018 profile of the executive). Then, she led the global business through the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her influential role overseeing 550,000 employees in 23 countries landed her at No. 14 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list and even led some to speculate that she could be a candidate to run the company one day.
But Walmart announced yesterday that McKenna, 57, plans to retire, stepping down from her current position next month and from the company in early 2024.
Even more compelling than McKenna's retirement is who is in line to succeed her: Kath McLay, the CEO of Sam's Club. McLay has been a rising star at Walmart, running the $73-billion warehouse club division. The 49-year-old Australian alum of Woolworths and Qantas, who joined Walmart in 2015, has tried to distinguish Sam's Club from its better-known parent and from competitor Costco. She even ran the brand's first Super Bowl ad. She's already been on the Most Powerful Women list, ranked No. 28 for her Sam's Club job.
The succession is a rare example of a handoff from female CEO to female CEO. While the Walmart International role ultimately reports to Walmart chief Doug McMillion, it's still a highly influential CEO job at one of the world's biggest companies. And when women leave those roles—like we saw recently at Gap Inc.—it's rare for another to be waiting in the wings to replace them.
The handoff speaks to Walmart's deep bench of female executive talent—and McLay is certainly one to keep watching.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune's newsletter for and about the world's most powerful women. Today's edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
