**History and Growth:**
– Founded by Sam Walton in 1962 in Arkansas.
– Incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law in 1969.
– Opened first Wal-Mart Discount City store in 1962.
– Expanded to 18 stores in Arkansas within five years.
– First stores outside Arkansas opened in 1968.
– Incorporated as Wal-Mart, Inc. in 1969.
– Changed name to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 1970.
– Went public in 1970 and listed on NYSE.
– Expanded to five states by 1970.
– By 1987, had 1,198 stores with $15.9 billion in sales.
– Became the largest U.S. retailer by revenue in 1990.
– Expanded into California and Pennsylvania in 1990.
– Entered Mexico in 1991 and Canada in 1994.
– Acquired Asda in the UK in 1999.
**International Expansion and Challenges:**
– Operates in 24 countries under various names.
– Largest company by revenue globally.
– Revenue of $611.3 billion in FY2023.
– Largest private employer with 2.2 million employees.
– Largest U.S. grocery retailer in 2019.
– Success in Canada, UK, Central and South America, and China.
– Failures in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Argentina.
– Mixed results in international ventures.
– Divested shareholdings in Grupo Big to Carrefour.
– Largest private satellite network in 1987.
**Innovations and Initiatives:**
– Experimented with precursor to Supercenter, the Hyper-Mart.
– Built new distribution centers in a hub and spoke framework.
– Introduced satellite network for inventory and sales tracking.
– Sourced products from China starting in 1984.
– Environmental measures announced in 2005 to increase energy efficiency.
– Goals included reducing greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste.
– Designed experimental stores with renewable energy sources and eco-friendly features.
– Became top seller of organic milk and buyer of organic cotton.
– Created Texas Retail Energy to supply stores with cheap power.
**Employee Benefits, Acquisitions, and COVID-19 Response:**
– Paid over $933.6 million in bonuses to full and part-time hourly workers in 2009.
– Offered profit sharing, 401(k) contributions, merchandise discounts, and stock purchase plan.
– Demonstrated commitment to employee benefits and welfare.
– Walmart’s initiatives aimed at improving employee satisfaction.
– Walmart paid pandemic bonuses to its employees.
– Walmart adjusted employee benefits in March 2020 due to the pandemic.
– Employees were allowed to take unpaid leave, and those contracting the virus received pay.
– Paid out $428 million in bonuses to staff.
– Part-time or temporary workers received a $150 bonus, while full-time workers received $300.
**Business Expansion, Acquisitions, and Future Plans:**
– Walmart acquired e-commerce website Jet.com for $3.3 billion in 2016.
– Walmart opened its first Health Center offering primary care services in 2019.
– Walmart announced the closure of 269 stores in 2016, affecting 16,000 workers.
– Walmart acquired Volt Systems, a vendor management software company, in August 2022.
– Walmart plans to open over 150 new stores and remodel 650 existing ones in the U.S.
– Project Gigaton initiative to reduce emissions reached its goal 6 years early in February 2024.
– Walmart will add electric vehicle charging stations at thousands of stores by 2030.
Walmart Inc. ( /ˈwɔːlmɑːrt/ ⓘ; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States, headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded by brothers Sam and James "Bud" Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law on October 31, 1969. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.
 Logo since June 29, 2008 | |
 Walmart location in Onalaska, Wisconsin | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| ISIN | US9311421039 |
| Industry | Retail |
| Predecessor | Walton's Five and Dime |
| Founded |
|
| Founder | Sam Walton, Bud Walton |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 10,586 stores worldwide (October 31, 2022) |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Products | Food, drinks, groceries, clothing, footwear, beauty products, jewelry, accessories, furniture, decor, bedding, bath, electronics, appliances, housewares, toys, games, books, movies, musical instruments, pet supplies, baby products, hygiene products, health products, school and office supplies, tools, gifts, garden center, pharmacy, photo center, sporting goods, and auto center |
| Services | |
| Revenue |  US$611.3 billion (FY2023) |
 US$20.4 billion (FY2023) | |
| US$11.29 billion (FY2023) | |
| Total assets | US$243.45 billion (FY2023) |
| Total equity | US$83.754 billion (FY2023) |
| Owner | Walton family (50.85%) |
Number of employees | 2,300,000 (Jan. 2022) |
| Divisions |
|
| Subsidiaries | List of subsidiaries |
| Website | walmart.com |
| Footnotes / references | |
As of October 31, 2022,[update] Walmart has 10,586 stores and clubs in 24 countries, operating under 46 different names. The company operates under the name Walmart in the United States and Canada, as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico and Central America, and as Flipkart Wholesale in India. It has wholly owned operations in Chile and a majority stake in Massmart in South Africa. Since August 2018, Walmart held only a minority stake in Walmart Brasil, which was renamed Grupo Big in August 2019, with 20 percent of the company's shares, and private equity firm Advent International holding 80% ownership of the company. They eventually divested their shareholdings in Grupo Big to French retailer Carrefour, in transaction worth R$7 billion and completed on June 7, 2022.
Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in October 2022. In February 2023, Walmart announced that its FY2023 total revenue was $611.3 billion. Walmart is also the largest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through both their holding company Walton Enterprises and their individual holdings. Walmart was the largest United States grocery retailer in 2019, and 65 percent of Walmart's US$510.329 billion sales came from U.S. operations.
Walmart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. By 1988, it was the most profitable retailer in the U.S., and it had become the largest in terms of revenue by October 1989. The company was originally geographically limited to the South and lower Midwest, but it had stores from coast to coast by the early 1990s. Sam's Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989, and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster, in July 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania, opened in October 1990, the first main store in the Northeast.
Walmart's investments outside the U.S. have seen mixed results. Its operations and subsidiaries in Canada, the United Kingdom (ASDA), Central America, South America, and China are successful, but its ventures failed in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Argentina.