Target Corporation

Banker and real estate investor George Draper Dayton incorporated the business in 1902 as Goodfellow Dry Goods.⁠[1]

In 1902 Dayton built at Seventh Street and Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis; in 1903 the existing Goodfellow’s store took the Dayton name.⁠[2]

Dayton became a partner in Goodfellow’s Dry Goods Company in 1902 and its sole owner and president a year later; in 1911 the business was renamed The Dayton Company.⁠[3]

George Draper Dayton died in 1938, and the company passed to his son and then his grandchildren. In 1954 it opened its first location outside downtown Minneapolis, in Rochester, Minnesota.⁠[3]

On May 1, 1962, the Dayton Company opened its first Target store.⁠[1]

The store was in Roseville, Minnesota.⁠[4]

On October 18, 1967, the company, then the Dayton Corporation, held an initial public offering at $34 a share.⁠[4]

In 1969 Dayton’s merged with Detroit-based J.L. Hudson Co.⁠[2]

Following the merger, the company changed its name to the Dayton Hudson Corporation.⁠[4]

In 1990 Dayton Hudson bought Chicago’s Marshall Field’s.⁠[2]

In 2000 Dayton Hudson changed its name to Target Corporation.⁠[1]

In 2004 Target Corporation sold Mervyn’s and Marshall Field’s.⁠[1]

Its department stores went to May Department Stores Corp.⁠[2]

Target launched in Canada in March 2013, beginning with three stores in Ontario.⁠[5][4]

On December 19, 2013, Target first disclosed that hackers had taken data from up to 40 million cards; almost a month later, it said some 70 million shoppers were affected.⁠[6]

On May 5, 2014, Target’s board announced that chief executive Gregg Steinhafel was stepping down effective immediately, with chief financial officer John Mulligan as interim replacement. The board said Steinhafel had led the response to the breach and “held himself personally accountable.”⁠[7]

Steinhafel, CEO for six years, also gave up his roles as president and board chair; director Roxanne Austin became interim nonexecutive chair.⁠[6]

On July 31, 2014, Target named Brian Cornell chairman and CEO, effective August 12. CornellCornell UniversityCornell University is a private research university in Ithaca, New York, and a member of the Ivy League. It is New York State's federal land-grant university, a distinction unique within the Ivy League. Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White founded the university in 1865, and it opened in 1868. In addition to its Ithaca campus, Cornell operates Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech in New York City and a medical college in Qatar. It enrolled 26,793 students in fall 2024. Its president is Michael I. Kotlikoff.Open the full entry had been CEO of PepsiCoPepsiCoPepsiCo, Inc. is a global beverage and convenient food company headquartered in Purchase, New York.Open the full entry Americas Foods and earlier president and CEO of Sam’s Club and CEO of Michaels Stores. He called himself “the first CEO hired from outside the company.”⁠[8]

On January 15, 2015, Target announced it would discontinue its Canadian operations. Target Canada then had 133 stores and about 17,600 employees, and it applied for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act in Ontario. Target expected about $5.4 billion of pre-tax losses on discontinued operations in the fourth quarter of 2014.⁠[9]

Target lost almost $1 billion in its first year in Canada, where customers faced higher-than-expected prices and empty shelves caused by distribution problems.⁠[5]

In March 2015 Target reached a $10 million settlement in a consumer class action. In May 2017 it agreed to pay $18.5 million to 47 states, with security provisions it must meet, the largest multistate data breach settlement to that date. Its cumulative breach-related expenses were $292 million, or $202 million net of insurance recoveries.⁠[10]

In 2023 Target removed some Pride Month products after online complaints and some in-store conflicts. On January 24, 2025, it said it would conclude its three-year DEI goals and its REACH goals in 2025, stop participating in outside DEI surveys including the Human Rights Campaign’s, and shift its “supplier diversity” programs to “supplier engagement.”⁠[11]

On January 31 and February 20, 2025, two federal securities class actions were filed in the Middle District of Florida against Target and its directors, alleging misleading disclosures about risks tied to ESG initiatives, including DEI, and the 2023 Pride Month collection. Target said it would vigorously defend them.⁠[12]

The cases were consolidated on July 24, 2025, and transferred to the District of Minnesota on November 14, 2025.⁠[13]

Many consumers boycotted Target over the DEI decision. First-quarter 2025 net sales fell nearly 3% to $23.8 billion. Cornell cited “the reaction to the updates we shared on belonging in January” as one factor, along with declining consumer confidence and tariff uncertainty.⁠[14]

On August 20, 2025, alongside a quarter of sales and profit declines, Target named chief operating officer and former chief financial officer Michael Fiddelke to succeed Brian Cornell as CEO, with Cornell becoming executive chair of the board, both effective February 1, 2026.⁠[15]

Fiddelke had a 20-year career at Target, with leadership roles across merchandising, finance, operations and human resources. In the announcement, Christine Leahy said that under Cornell, Target had become “a $100+ billion company, with revenues increasing by $34 billion in 11 years.”⁠[16]

As of January 31, 2026, Target operated 1,995 stores in 49 states and the District of Columbia as a single segment selling general merchandise and food, with approximately 415,000 full-time, part-time and seasonal team members.⁠[13]

On March 3, 2026, Target posted fiscal 2025 results for the year ended January 31, 2026: net sales of $104.78 billion, down 1.7%; net earnings of $3.705 billion, compared with $4.091 billion; and a 2.6% decline in comparable sales. Chief executive Fiddelke called 2025 “a challenging year.”⁠[17]

That month, Fiddelke unveiled a $6 billion plan to reverse three straight years of sales declines, including store remodels.⁠[18]

In the three months ended May 2, 2026, Target’s comparable sales rose 5.6%; net sales rose 6.7% to $25.44 billion; and earnings were $781 million, compared with $1.04 billion a year earlier.⁠[18]