Wal-Mart is a global retailer headquartered in Bentonville, which is a small city in Arkansas in the US It is the largest public corporation by revenue. Its shares are listed on many international stock exchanges. The operating divisions of Wal-Mart Corporation are Marketside and Sam’s Club stores. Wal-Mart stores trade under local names in some international markets such as ASDA in the UK, Mi Bodega or Superama in Mexico, Seiyu in Japan, or Bompreço in Brazil.
Wal-Mart’s history is like a resume for corporate founder Sam Walton. He started his discount store in 1950 as Walton’s Five and Dime. Walton had previously operated a Ben Franklin store in Newport, Arkansas. He franchised it from 1944 to 1950 and then moved in 1950 to Bentonville, Arkansas. He continued his association with Ben Franklin, but changed the name of the store to Walton’s Five and Dime.
Walton owned a small network of Walton’s Five and Dime stores in the late 1950s. He had realized that successful discount retailing meant passing savings on to customers as well as getting the best prices from suppliers. This method of Walton’s was in stark contrast to his competition, although the higher sales in Walton’s stores were evidence that he had discovered a model that would foster higher profits for his company.
Sam Walton owned 11 stores in 1962. He and his wife Helen made a big bet and reinvested it all in a new store in Rogers, Arkansas. This became Wal-Mart’s first brand store. This concept was an immediate success that resulted in the brand’s amazing growth to 24 stores by 1967. Sam Walton incorporated the stores as Wal-Mart Stores Inc in 1967. In 1972, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. York. This provided a cash injection and allowed the company to have 125 stores in 1975 and then 276 stores in 1980.
Wal-Mart employees also felt the benefit of this addition. Many received stock options in exchange for their loyalty. In 1970, Sam Walton began selling stock to the company over the counter. Wal-Mart stock was worth $47 in 1971, this was not enough to make millionaires, but it increased to $49,875 per share in 1982. This was enough for the children’s college expenses, an ambition that many Wal-Mart employees They had.
Wal-Mart’s attitude was conservative with acquisitions, but it has always been strategic in nature. The first two acquisitions were buying Mohr Value Stores and the Hutcheson Shoe Company in 1977, and then buying Kuhn’s Big K Stores in 1981. It would be another nine years before Wal-Mart made another acquisition. Wal-Mart’s internal growth comes largely from the various Wal-Mart stores.
Sam Walton stayed with the company his entire life, continuing to visit stores and meet employees, even walking them around the store as they went about their business. Walton promised to hula in a hula skirt outside the New York Stock Exchange as a gesture of solidarity with employees if the company made an 8% pre-tax profit. This would have turned his gesture into a mere public stunt. The employees finally made it happen. In 1998, Walton was listed in Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.
Wal-Mart’s sales and profits continued to rise in the early 21st century with no signs of negative effects from the weakening world economy. By the end of 2006, Wal-Mart had 6,775 stores worldwide, more than 2 million employees, and annual sales of nearly $350 billion.