US consumers heading out on Black Friday shopping trips to Walmart may not realise they are visiting a branch of the latest hot tech stock. But after half a century on the New York Stock Exchange, the discount retail giant is about to relist on the Nasdaq, an index more often associated with fast-growing start-ups or tech titans such as Nvidia or Google. That what is still the world’s largest company by sales can rebrand itself, at least by association, as a growth stock is striking. It says much about its transformation under CEO Doug McMillon, who is stepping down after 12 years.

Walmart is the latest in a stream of companies to shift to Nasdaq, and far from the first in consumer goods or retail. But with a market capitalisation of $870bn, it is by far the most valuable to do so. It is also not long since it appeared to be running out of growth.

McMillon took the reins when Walmart was struggling to expand into ecommerce and in danger of being left in the dust by Amazon — which in 2015 steamed past it in market value. It was seen as a ruthless, price-focused operator, killing off Main Street stores while paying its workers some of the lowest rates in US retail. Same-store sales had been stagnant for several quarters. McMillon’s successful makeover of Walmart has two broad lessons.