Walmart’s recent decision to lay off nearly 1,500 employees has become the subject of widespread misinformation online—particularly some MAGA supporters—falsely accusing the company of replacing American workers with foreign hires on H-1B visas. The unfounded claims gained momentum on social media, with users unfairly targeting Walmart’s Global Tech division and even singling out its Indian-origin Chief Technology Officer, Suresh Kumar, despite no evidence to support such accusations.
Suresh Kumar, who serves as Walmart’s Executive Vice President, Global CTO, and Chief Development Officer, has over 30 years of experience in the tech industry, having previously held leadership roles at Google, Microsoft, and Amazon. Born in Basavanagudi, Bengaluru, Kumar completed his B.Tech in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Madras and earned a PhD in Control Systems from Princeton University. He currently resides in Sunnyvale, California.
While conspiracy theories focused on Kumar and Walmart’s tech wing, the layoffs in question span multiple departments, including the U.S. e-commerce segment, advertising arm Walmart Connect, and other business units—not just the technology division commonly associated with H-1B hiring. According to Bloomberg, the job cuts are part of a larger restructuring initiative aimed at streamlining operations and improving decision-making efficiency.
Despite the facts, online critics continued to fuel baseless narratives. One user on X (formerly Twitter) wrote, “The large layoffs today at Walmart… are from its technology team. You know, the kind of US worker who’s replaced by H1B.” Another speculated, “1500. Wow, that’s a bloodbath. How many H-1Bs are they bringing in next year?” A third falsely claimed, “You are failing America each passing day Donald Trump,” incorrectly linking the layoffs to Trump despite his administration being out of office.
In reality, H-1B visas are granted to highly skilled professionals, typically in STEM roles. The areas most affected by Walmart’s layoffs—advertising and e-commerce—are not sectors that rely heavily on H-1B talent. Moreover, while Walmart has received thousands of H-1B approvals over the years, this is standard practice for a company that employs 1.6 million people in the U.S. and over 2.1 million globally. The layoffs follow broader organizational changes at the retail giant. In February, Walmart shut down its office in North Carolina, and it is currently consolidating teams in Arkansas and California. In April, the company also announced price increases, citing lingering effects of Trump-era tariffs on Chinese imports.
An internal memo from CTO Suresh Kumar and Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner, reviewed by Bloomberg, confirmed that the job cuts are part of a long-term operational strategy—not a move to replace workers with foreign employees.
