Wal-Mart eliminating hundreds of corporate jobs: source

Walmart's new cuts will affect employees in the international division, its technology services division and in its Sam's Club business (AFP Photo/Scott Olson)

The cuts will affect employees in Wal-Mart's international division, its technology services division and in its Sam's Club business. The layoffs are centered in administrative functions, said the person, confirming a story in the Wall Street Journal.

Wal-Mart has been targeting e-commerce growth and looking to offset increased spending in that realm with belt-tightening elsewhere.

"To fuel our growth and our investments we have to manage our costs and our capital decisions with discipline," a Wal-Mart spokesman said.

"In order to achieve this, from time to time you'll see the company eliminate positions in an effort to stay lean and fast. In some areas, we'll invest in new positions but in other cases, we'll operate more efficiently and work to change our processes and become more digital to change the work itself."

Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, cut 1,000 administrative and e-commerce jobs at the start of 2017, even as it pledged to create 10,000 jobs in the United States.

In 2016, Wal-Mart cut 18,000 jobs through store closures and automation. Some of the workers affected by those cuts found posts elsewhere at the company.