Walmart

This article is about the retail chain. For other uses, see Walmart (disambiguation).

Walmart Inc.
Formerly
  • Wal-Mart Discount City (1962–1969)
  • Wal-Mart, Inc. (1969–1970)
  • Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (1970–2018)
Company typePublic
ISINUS9311421039
IndustryRetail
PredecessorWalton's Five and Dime
FoundedJuly 2, 1962; 62 years ago (1962-07-02), in Rogers, Arkansas[1]
FoundersSam Walton, Bud Walton
Headquarters
Bentonville, Arkansas
,
United States
36°21′56″N 94°13′03″W / 36.36556°N 94.21750°W / 36.36556; -94.21750
Number of locations
10,586 (2022)[2][3][4]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Services
Revenue Increase US$648.12 billion (FY2024)[5]
Increase US$27.0 billion (FY2024)[5]
Increase US$16.27 billion (FY2024)[5]
Total assets Increase US$252.399 billion (FY2024)[5]
Total equityIncrease US$90.349 billion (FY2024)[5]
OwnerWalton family (50.85%)[6]
Number of employees
2,100,000 (Jan. 2024)[5]
Divisions
  • Walmart U.S.
  • Walmart International
  • Sam's Club
  • Global eCommerce
SubsidiariesList of subsidiaries
Websitewalmart.com
Footnotes / references
[7][8][9]

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 and 23 other countries. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas.[10] 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.[11] It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.[12][13]

As of October 31, 2022, Walmart has 10,586 stores and clubs in 24 countries, operating under 46 different names.[2][3][4] 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.[14]

Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in October 2022.[15] In February 2023, Walmart announced that its FY2023 total revenue was $611.3 billion.[16] Walmart is also the largest private employer in the world with 2.1 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.[17] 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.[18][19]

Walmart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. By 1988, it was the most profitable retailer in the U.S.,[20] and it had become the largest in terms of revenue by October 1989.[21] 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.[22]

Walmart's investments outside the U.S. have seen mixed results. Its operations and subsidiaries in Canada,[23] the United Kingdom (ASDA),[24] Central America, Chile (Líder), and China are successful, but its ventures failed in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Argentina.[25][26][27][28]

  1. ^ "Our History". Corporate.Walmart.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Walmart Investor Relations - Financials Investor Relations > Financials". stock.walmart.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Walmart Unit Counts by Country October 31, 2022" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on November 15, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Annual report" (PDF). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Walmart Annual Report 2023" (PDF). Walmart. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 21, 2023. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  6. ^ "WALMART – DEF 14A". sec.gov. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Form10K was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference OurBusiness was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Walmart Corporate: United Kingdom". Walmart. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  10. ^ "Form 8K – Walmart Inc". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 1, 2018. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  11. ^ "Walmart History". Walmart History. Retrieved July 18, 2024.
  12. ^ "Walmart 2015 Annual Report" (PDF). stock.walmart.com. Walmart. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  13. ^ "Walmart Corporate: Locations". Walmart. Archived from the original on January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  14. ^ "Carrefour Brazil completes the acquisition of Grupo BIG and strengthens its governance". Carrefour S.A. June 7, 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
  15. ^ "Fortune 500: Walmart". Fortune. October 10, 2022. Archived from the original on February 14, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  16. ^ "Walmart Releases Q4 and FY23 Earnings". corporate.walmart.com. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
  17. ^ "Share Ownership". Wal Mart 2013 Proxy statement. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014. Alt URL
  18. ^ "Earnings Release – 1.31.2020" (PDF). Walmart. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 25, 2020. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2016 Annual Report Page 20 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Hayes, Thomas C. (February 28, 1990). "Company News; Wal-Mart Net Jumps By 31.8%". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015.
  21. ^ 1990 Sales Lift Wal-mart Into Top Spot – Sun Sentinel Archived September 4, 2013, at the Wayback Machine. Articles.sun-sentinel.com (February 15, 1991). Retrieved December 6, 2013.
  22. ^ Warner, Susan (October 1, 1990). "A New Battle On The Eastern Front Rivals Are Bracing As Wal-mart Today Opens The First Of Nine Stores Planned For Pennsylvania And New Jersey". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  23. ^ "Walmart Canada". Archived from the original on July 4, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  24. ^ "Is there a Walmart in the UK or London?". Gone Girl London. 2021. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  25. ^ Saini, Leo (November 22, 2021). "Why Walmart Failed in Germany". Better Marketing. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  26. ^ Takana, Yo (November 21, 2020). "How Walmart flopped in Japan, and elsewhere overseas". Nikkei Asia . Archived from the original on June 6, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  27. ^ Marshall, Sebastian. "Walmart Failed in Korea Because of a Lack of Walking Around". Sebastian Marshall . Archived from the original on November 7, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  28. ^ Raszewski, Eliana (November 6, 2020). "Walmart to sell operations in recession-hit Argentina, taking $1 billion hit". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.