Walmart is an icon of America, and one of the biggest retail corporations in the world. It is so much more than just a warehouse of goods – it is a chain of grocery stores, department stores, and hypermarkets. Everyone who lives in America either knows of Walmart or has been to one, but most people around the world have also heard of it.
Walmart also owns another retail giant, Sam’s Club, and as a result is in charge of more than 11,000 stores in 27 countries. This means that they don’t just have stores in America, but around the world. It is easily the largest corporation when it comes to revenue, and largest private employer in the world.
Let’s do a deep dive into Walmart’s history and net worth.
History
Sam Walton was a businessman who bought a brand of Ben Franklin stores in 1945, from the Butler Brothers. He began to sell products to customers for a low price so that he could get more products out the door at a lower profit margin.
He made an entire movement around this concept, and he marketed it as a ‘crusade for the customer’. He struggled at first to get his concept off the ground, but within five years of owning a business, he had managed to stretch his revenue to $250,000.
He named his first store ‘Walton’s Five and Dime’. This store is still at the original location, and it has been turned into the Walmart Museum. You can find it in Bentonville.
The second store was opened in Rogers, Arkansas, and this the first official Walmart store. This was back in 1962. Within the first five years of opening, the company was able to expand to 24 stores in the state of Arkansas and generate over $12 million in sales. Outside Arkansas, the first stores to open were in Oklahoma and Missouri.
Just one year after this in 1969, the company was formally called Wal-Mart, Inc. The first offices and distribution center were opened in Bentonville that same year, and it opened on the stock market as a publicly held business.
In the 80s, the company held the position of being the biggest private network, as Sam Walton began to source a lot of the company’s products from China. Walton was eventually replaced as CEO in 1988 by David Glass, but remained a mainstay in the company by being on the board.
In 1990 it grew to be more profitable than its rivals and was officially the biggest U.S. retailer.
Walmart Now
Walmart still holds the title of being the biggest retail company, but they are thinking of adding a subscription video service, much like Amazon and Netflix. Former Epix CEO, Mark Greenbery, is helping them with this process.
Walmart Outside of the U.S.
Walmart operates under the same name in Canada, but in the United Kingdom, it operates under the name Asda. In India it is known as Best Price.
Walmart’s Net Worth
Walmart’s current net worth is estimated to be $530 billion. They continue to be the largest private employer in the world, with more than 2 million people on their payroll. We believe that they will continue to grow as a company.
