Target’s missteps have alienated consumers and shaken investors. Executive Chair Brian Cornell should step down

Target’s annual shareholder meeting in June was a referendum on the company’s leadership, and the story is bleak: nearly 13% of shareholders opposed the reelection of Executive Chair and former CEO Brian Cornell.

Combined with nearly 40% support for a shareholder proposal calling for an independent Board Chair, this level of opposition makes clear that some shareholders are dissatisfied with the decision to retain Cornell on the Board after he stepped down as CEO early this year.

At first glance Cornell’s reelection margin may look comfortable, but votes like these typically show approval levels of 90% or higher.

The average support for S&P 500 directors in the 2026 proxy season was 96.6% .

Compare that to Cornell’s fall to 87.2%, and it signals that shareholders like us have lost faith in Cornell’s leadership and demand a change to Target’s management.

Cornell’s fortunes have dropped precipitously.

For nearly a decade, his nay votes never once rose above 6.3%.

In 2025, after three straight years of sales declines, the opposition to Cornell rose slightly higher.

But then he stepped down as CEO in February, only for the Board to retain him as Executive Chair.

At this year’s AGM, opposition increased threefold from a decade ago, from 4.2% in 2016 to 12.8% in June.

Those of us who follow the company understand how we got here: a steady erosion of Target’s brand from years of poor management decisions, including a series of operational missteps that have repeatedly put it at odds with the public.

Once an industry leader for championing inclusion, in recent years Target has caved to political pressure — slashing its Pride merchandise collection in 2024, rolling back DEI initiatives in 2025, and most recently its muted response to ICE after federal agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti and detained two of its employees in the company’s home city of Minneapolis.

The backlash has been fierce.

Black, Latino, LGBTQ+, and progressive shoppers — some of Target’s core customer base — have mounted boycotts and national protests.