Wal-Mart said to focus on two internal candidates to succeed CEO

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s board, as it prepares for new leadership at the company, has identified two internal candidates to succeed Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The two leading contenders are international chief Doug McMillon, 46, and Bill Simon, 53, who runs the U.S. operations, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. While Duke, 63, isn't expected to step down immediately, Wal-Mart may name his successor in the coming months, the person said.

The new CEO will contend with such challenges as slowing U.S. sales gains, increasingly restive labor groups clamoring for better working conditions and investigations into allegations of bribery in Mexico.

"There are rumors and speculation about our company all the time and we just don't comment on them," David Tovar, a Wal-Mart spokesman, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Tovar declined to comment on succession timing.

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