Target (TGT) will attack local talent as its next CEO at one of the most critical moments in its 63-year history.
The disc announced that longtime CEO Brian Cornell's carefully retouched second No. 2 Michael Fiddelke will take over as CEO on February 1, 2026. Cornell, who has been CEO of Target since August 2014, will enter the executive chair position for uncertain time. Fiddelke joined Target as an intern in 2003 and was promoted to the CFO and COO.
“I've had this conversation with the board for a number of years, and I've been in the role for 11 years. I'm going into my 12th now. I will actually turn 67 early next year, and I think it's time for me to step back, recharge, spend a lot more time with my family, a lot fewer nights in hotels, and be a great supporter of Michael and the team for the rest of my life,” Cornell told me by video call while Sitting next to Fiddelke at the company's Minneapolis headquarters.
Fiddelke added: “After 20 years here, I'm bleeding for Target Red, and for me there's nothing more important than working with an incredible team, we have to draw the next chapter for Target. I mean, I've seen us in 20 years in our best game. I've seen us not at our best. When we're at our best, it's hard to beat us.”
This decision is not surprising for students with target history like me. On the one hand, Fiddelke has become Cornell's right person. It has become clear that he is tinkering with Fiddelke's takeover over the past year, while also working behind the scenes to get a board buy. I've known Fiddelke in recent years. He's a nice guy and does have a chance to sit in the CEO seat.
If this is another time, the decision may be celebrated. The company's uncommon interns become its CEO. The only story I can think of is Doug McMillon, CEO of Walmart, from a retailer’s truck loader to a CEO.
However, Fiddelke's goal in the last 24 months of struggles, including weak second quarters, is the honeymoon period of the honeymoon period. The people I talk to hope that the outsider will be the next CEO of Target, fresh eyes to come in and solve the problem (with Cornell when he was brought in in 2014 (PEP) with his career (Walmart) and Pepsico). Fiddelke will be seen as a continuation of a strategy that hasn't worked properly yet.
I asked him to call him with his intention to be candid in the early stages of the strategic review, which is what all the new leaders did. He sounds like he's ready to move from Cornell's script and shake things. He will have to do that and quickly win over Wall Street that may be suspicious.