Coca-Cola, Walmart outgoing CEOs cite AI in decisions to step down

Two major CEOs told CNBC in recent months that the rise of artificial intelligence contributed to their decisions to hand over the reins and step down from their positions.

It’s one of the latest insights into how America’s corporate leaders are sizing up the AI transition.

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday that his decision to step down from his role was influenced by larger “waves of the organizational momentum.”

“My job is also to think who’s the best team to put on the field to get the next wave done,” Quincey said. “And I concluded that, actually, it was time to put someone else on the field for the next wave of growth.”

Quincey, who has been CEO of the beverage giant since 2017, will be succeeded by current COO Henrique Braun, effective at the end of this month.

“In a pre-AI, a pre-gen-AI mode, we made a lot of progress. But now there’s a huge new shift coming along,” Quincey said.

While he said he’s leaning into the technological advances, he believes the beverage company needs “someone with the energy to pursue a completely new transformation of the enterprise.”

That person, Quincey said, is Braun, who he believes will uniquely equip the company to embrace its next chapter.

Quincey’s comments echo sentiments from former Walmart CEO Douglas McMillon in December ahead of his departure from that role.

McMillon, who had held the position as CEO of the global retailer since 2014, told “Squawk Box” at the time that he had decided to hand over the role to someone “faster.” John Furner, who was previously head of Walmart U.S., took the top job on Feb. 1.

“With what’s happening with AI, I could start this next big set of transformations with AI, but I couldn’t finish,” McMillon told CNBC.

“About a year ago, I really started feeling like this next run, you could see what agentic commerce was going to look like, the vision for AI shopping, and I started thinking about everything that needs to happen over the next few years, and it really caused me to think that now was the right time [to step down],” he said.

Walmart in December made the move to list on the Nasdaq, something McMillon said was symbolic of the progress the company has made with technology.

The retailer has been incorporating AI to optimize its supply chain, provide assistants for customers and more.

“I think what you’re going to see from the Walmart team is they’re just going to keep scaling what we’ve already started, build some new stuff on top, and then use AI to transform it all,” he said.