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

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Walmart logo, used since June 30, 2008
Type Public
Traded as NYSE: WMT
Dow Jones Industrial Average Component
S&P 500 Component
Industry Retail
Founded 1962
Founder(s) Sam Walton
Headquarters Bentonville, Arkansas, United States
36°21′51″N 094°12′59″W
Number of locations 8,970 (2011)
Area served Worldwide
Key people S. Robson Walton, Chairman
Mike Duke, President/CEO
Products Apparel/footwear specialty, cash & carry/warehouse club, discount store, hypermarket/supercenter/superstore, supermarket
Revenue US$ 446.950 billion (2012)[1]
Operating income US$ 26.558 billion (2012)[1]
Net income US$ 15.699 billion (2012)[1]
Total assets US$ 193.406 billion (2012)[1]
Total equity US$ 71.315 billion (2012)[1]
Owner(s) Walton family
Employees 2.2 million (2012)[1]
Divisions Walmart Canada
Subsidiaries Asda, Sam's Club, Seiyu Group, Walmex
Website Wal-Mart Stores.com
Walmart.com
References: [2][3][4]
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), branded as Walmart, is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's third largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own a 48 percent stake in Walmart.[5][6] It is also one of the world's most valuable companies.[7]
The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51 percent of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business.[8] It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.[9][10]
By 1988, Wal-Mart was the most profitable retailer in the US, and by November 1990, it outsold K-mart [11]. By 1991 it outsold Sears in retail, making it America's largest retailer, a distinction it still holds.
Walmart has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names.[12] The company operates under the Walmart name in the United States, including the 50 states and Puerto Rico. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Walmart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, whereas ventures in Germany and South Korea were unsuccessful.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Early years (1945–1969)
1.2 Incorporation and growth (1969–2005)
1.3 Initiatives (2005–present)
2 Operating divisions
2.1 Walmart Stores U.S.
2.1.1 Walmart Discount Stores
2.1.2 Walmart Supercenter
2.1.3 Walmart Market
2.1.4 Supermercado de Walmart
2.1.5 Walmart Express
2.2 Sam's Club
2.3 Walmart International
2.4 Vudu
2.5 Private label brands
2.6 Entertainment
3 Corporate affairs
3.1 Finance and governance
3.2 Competition
3.3 Customer base
3.4 Economic impact
3.5 Employee and labor relations
3.6 Gender and sexual orientation
4 Logos
5 See also
6 References
7 Further reading
8 External links
History

Main article: History of Walmart
Early years (1945–1969)

Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas now serving as the Walmart Visitor Center
In 1945 a businessman and former J. C. Penney employee, Sam Walton, purchased a branch of the Ben Franklin Stores from the Butler Brothers.[13] Sam's focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower-profit margin. He portrayed it as a