Walmart

Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retailer that runs hypermarkets (often called supercenters), discount department stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, and gas stations across the United States and 19 other countries. Its headquarters sit in Bentonville, Arkansas. Brothers Sam and James "Bud" Walton founded the company in 1962 in nearby Rogers, Arkansas. Walmart also owns and operates Sam’s Club warehouse stores. As of 2026, it ranks as the world’s second-largest company by revenue and the largest private employer, with 2.1 million workers. It holds the top spot on both the Fortune 500 and Fortune Global 500 lists. In February 2026, Walmart became the first traditional retailer to reach a valuation above $1 trillion, and it is known for product innovation. Though publicly traded, it remains the largest family-owned business globally, controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton’s heirs own more than half of the company through their holding company, Walton Enterprises, and their personal stakes. Walmart first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972 and moved to the Nasdaq in December 2025. It is a core member of major indices like the Dow Jones Global Titans 50 and the S&P 500. By 1988, it had become the most profitable retailer in the U.S., and by October 1989, it was the largest by revenue. Originally limited to the South and lower Midwest, Walmart had stores from coast to coast by the early 1990s. As of early 2026, the company holds a global portfolio of 8,841 total patent filings, with about 2,686 granted.

**History**

**1945–1969: Early history** In 1945, Sam Walton—a former J. C. Penney employee—purchased a Ben Franklin store branch from Butler Brothers. He focused on selling products at low prices to drive high-volume sales with thinner profit margins, framing this as a crusade for consumers. The lease and purchase price were unusually high, causing setbacks, but he found cheaper suppliers than competitors and could undercut their prices. Sales jumped 45% in his first year, reaching $105,000 in revenue, then $140,000 the next year, $175,000 the year after, and $250,000 by the fifth year. When the lease expired and he couldn’t renew, Walton opened a new store at 105 N. Main Street in Bentonville, calling it “Walton’s Five and Dime.” That building is now the Walmart Museum. On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, Arkansas. Its design was inspired by Ann & Hope, which Walton visited in 1961 (as did Kmart founder Harry B. Cunningham). The name came from FedMart, a discount chain founded by Sol Price in 1954; Walton said he liked the idea because he “really liked Sol’s FedMart name.” That original building now houses a hardware store and an antiques mall, while the company’s “Store #1” later expanded into a Supercenter several blocks west at 2110 W. Walnut Street. Within five years, the company had grown to 18 stores in Arkansas and $9 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri, and Claremore, Oklahoma.

**1969–1990: Incorporation and growth as a regional power** The company incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law as Wal-Mart, Inc. on October 31, 1969, and changed its name to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 1970. That same year, it opened a home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas, with 38 stores, 1,500 employees, and $44.2 million in sales. It began trading as a public company on October 1, 1970, and soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first stock split occurred in May 1971 at $47 per share. By then, Wal-Mart operated in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma. It entered Tennessee in 1973, and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. When it moved into Texas in 1975, it had 125 stores, 7,500 employees, and $340.3 million in sales. In the 1980s, Wal-Mart briefly tested a precursor to the Supercenter called the Hyper-Mart, with four stores combining discount retail, supermarkets, pharmacies, video arcades, and other amenities. By the company’s 25th anniversary in 1987, there were 1,198 Wal-Mart stores, $15.9 billion in sales, and 200,000 associates. One reason for its success between 1980 and 2000 was a contiguous expansion pattern, building new distribution centers in a hub-and-spoke framework within driving distance of existing Supercenters. In 1987, the company completed a $24 million satellite network—the largest private satellite network at the time—linking all stores with two-way voice and data transmissions and one-way video to Bentonville, allowing corporate to track inventory and sales and communicate instantly. By 1984, Sam Walton had begun sourcing between 6% and 40% of products from China. In 1988, Walton stepped down as CEO, replaced by David Glass, while remaining chairman. That year, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Washington, Missouri. With its superstores, the company surpassed Toys “R” Us in toy sales in 1998.

**1990–2005: Retail rise to multinational status** Though it was the third-largest retailer in the United States, Wal-Mart was already more profitable than rivals Kmart and Sears by the early 1990s.