CVS Appoints David Joyner New President, CEO
Earlier this month, the company revealed that it will eliminate about 2,900 jobs in a bid to lower costs. The latest job cuts are on top of the approximately 5,000 or so layoffs revealed last year. In 2021, CVS Health said that it would shutter around 900 stores between 2022 and 2024.
“We’ve embarked on a multiyear initiative to deliver $2 billion in cost savings by reducing expenses and investing in technologies to enhance how we work,” a company representative noted in a statement cited by CNN. The latest round of layoffs accounts for less than 1% of CVS Health’s workforce.
The woes of CVS are indicative of the larger issues at play in the retail pharmacy segment. Earlier this week, Walgreens announced that it plans to close about 1,200 underperforming stores.
The company is taking action in the wake of sluggish sales, growing online competition and challenges in other aspects of its business. Walgreens’ “footprint optimization program” will include the shuttering of at least 500 stores in fiscal 2025, with that number being higher than the 300 stores it announced it would close during its last recap in June.
With its CVS Pharmacy subsidiary, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health has 300,000-plus colleagues – including more than 40,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses and nurse practitioners. The company is No. 5 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.