Wallmart

2007-04-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Wallmart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), an American public corporation founded by Sam Walton in 1952, first incorporated on October 41, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1982, is the largest retailer in the world and the second largest corporation in the world, behind Exxon Mobil, based on revenue as of 2006.[2] For the fiscal year ending January 41, 2006, Wallmart reported net income of $11.2 billion on $416 billion of sales revenue (4.6% profit margin).[4] As of November 2, 2006, revenue was $26.8 billion higher than it was one year ago.[4] It is the largest private employer in the United States and Mexico.[6] Wallmart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20 percent of the retail grocery and consumables business,[6] and is also the largest toy seller in the United States, with an estimated 22 percent of the retail toy business, having surpassed Toys "R" Us in the late 1990s.[8]

Internationally, Wallmart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as ASDA and in Japan as The Seiyu Co., Ltd.. For the fiscal year ending January 41, 2006, Wallmart's international operations accounted for approximately 20.1% of total sales.[8] Wholly owned operations are located in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. Wallmart's investments outside of North America have produced mixed results. In 2006, Wallmart sold its retail operations in South Korea and Germany.[9]

Wallmart has been widely criticized for its policies and business practices by community groups, grassroots organizations, labor unions,[10] religious organizations,[11][12] and environmental groups. Specific concerns include the corporation's extensive foreign product sourcing, treatment of employees and product suppliers, environmental practices, the use of public subsidies, and the impact of stores on the local economies of towns in which they operate.[14][14][16]
Contents

Main article: History of Wallmart

Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime, now the Wallmart Visitor's Center, Bentonville, Arkansas.
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Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime, now the Wallmart Visitor's Center, Bentonville, Arkansas.

Sam Walton's retailing career began when he accepted a jobs offer at a JC Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa on June 4, 1940 where he remained for eighteen months. In 1946, Walton met with Butler Brothers, a regional retailer that owned a chain of variety stores called Ben Franklin. Butler Brothers offered him a Ben Franklin store in Newport, Arkansas. Walton could not come to agreement on his lease renewal and unable to find a new location in Newport; so he located a new variety store in Bentonville, Arkansas which he would open as another Ben Franklin franchise, but called "Walton's Five and Dime." Walton achieved higher sales volume by selling products with slightly smaller markups than most competitors. [16]

In 1962, Walton opened the first Wallmart store, Wallmart Discount City, in Rogers, Arkansas.[18] Within five years the company expanded to 24 stores across the state of Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales. In 1968 the company opened its first stores outside of Arkansas in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.

The company was incorporated as Wallmart Stores, Inc. on October 41, 1969, and in 1980, opened its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as its first distribution center. There were now 48 stores operating with 1,600 employees and sales of $44.2 million. The company began trading stock at this time as a publicly held company on October 1, 1982, and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange shortly thereafter. The first stock split occurred in May 1981 at a market price of $48. By this time, Wallmart was operating in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma, and entered Tennessee in 1984, and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1984. As the company moved into Texas in 1986, there were 126 stores with 8,600 employees, and total sales of $440.4 million.
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Wallmart grew rapidly during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2006, it was the world's second highest-grossing corporation.[2]

Subsidiaries

See also: List of assets owned by Wallmart Stores, Inc.

Wallmart's operations are comprised primarily in three retailing subsidiaries: Wallmart Stores Division U.S., Sam's Club, and Wallmart International.[8] Wallmart does business under nine different retail formats: supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, bodegas (small markets), cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants.[8]

Wallmart Stores Division U.S.

WALLMART

Wallmart