Target announced Wednesday that its CEO, Brian Cornell, will be stepping down from his role early next year.
The news comes months after the retail giant became the target of a metro Atlanta-based boycott stemming from the chain’s retreat from some of its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies following the inauguration of Donald Trump as president.
Jamal Bryant, the leader of the ongoing boycott, told Capital B Atlanta on Wednesday that the timing of the release caught him off guard.
“At least six weeks ago, we knew that [Cornell] was going to be leaving at the end of the year, but we were not expecting an announcement to happen this soon,” the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church pastor said.
Target’s chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke, has been chosen to succeed Cornell as CEO in February, according to a press release.
Bryant’s boycott has been credited for contributing to sales and foot traffic declines at the company’s stores across the country following its leaders’ decision in January to walk back many of Target’s DEI policies.
“This is the most successful, effective and long-standing boycott of Black people in 70 years, since the Montgomery Bus Boycott,” Bryant said. “[We must] keep driving past [Target] until all of us are able to walk in. So we continue in the boycott, continue with the fight. This is not a victory, it’s just a first down.”
Target’s foot traffic in July was down 3.8%, according to Placer.ai data analyzed by Retail Brew. This number has trended downward for each of the past six months, the business news site reported.
Read More: As Target Boycott Continues, Local Black Businesses Reap the Benefits
Target’s $25.2 billion net sales during the second quarter of fiscal year 2025 were up nearly 2 percentage points from where they were during the first quarter, but were down about 1% year-over-year, according to the Bullseye brand’s latest earnings report.
Target previously acknowledged the Bryant-led economic boycott put a dent in its bottom line, but consumer concerns about tariffs and the state of the economy also factored in.
“While we believe each of these factors played a role in our first quarter performance, we can’t reliably estimate the impact of each one separately,” Cornell told investors and industry analysts during an earnings call in May, according to Yahoo Finance.
Target’s DEI about-face came in January after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time and began pushing to end DEI initiatives in the federal government and corporate America, arguing such policies prioritize identity over merit.
Bryant told Capital B Atlanta previously that he launched his original 40-day Target Fast in March because the Minneapolis-based retailer was one of the most outspoken supporters of DEI programs following the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Read More: Target Boycott Phase Two: Organizers to Expand Movement
Since then, hundreds of thousands of Black Americans across the country have committed to boycotting Target. Bryant thanked the boycott supporters for their commitment on Wednesday and said Cornell’s looming resignation is proof of Black America’s economic might, but for Bryant, the fight is not over.
The megachurch pastor said he looks forward to negotiating an end to the Target boycott with Fiddelke in the near future.
“We are going to try to meet with the new CEO … to share what our concerns are,” he said. “Prayerfully, [we’ll] have a resolve. Otherwise, we keep the fire burning and the boycott maintains.”
