Walmart

Walmart Inc.
Formerly
  • Wal-Mart Discount City (1962–1969)
  • Wal-Mart, Inc. (1969–1970)
  • Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (1970–2018)
Company typePublic
ISINUS9311421039
IndustryRetail
PredecessorWalton's Five and Dime
FoundedJuly 2, 1962 (1962-07-02), in Rogers, Arkansas, U.S.
Founders
Headquarters,
United States
36°21′56″N 94°13′03″W / 36.36556°N 94.21750°W / 36.36556; -94.21750
Number of locations
10,771 (2025)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Services
Revenue US$713.20 billion (2025)
US$29.348 billion (2025)
US$19.436 billion (2025)
Total assets US$260.82 billion (2025)
Total equity US$97.421 billion (2025)
OwnerWalton family (44.8%) (mainly via Walton Enterprises)
Number of employees
2,100,000 (2025)
Divisions
  • Walmart U.S.
  • Walmart International
  • Sam's Club
  • Global eCommerce
SubsidiariesList of subsidiaries
Websitewalmart.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of January 31, 2025.
References:

Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 19 other countries. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded in 1962 by brothers Sam Walton and James "Bud" Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.

Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue and the largest private employer in the world, with 2.1 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business (the largest such business in the world), as the company is controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs own over 50 percent of Walmart through both their holding company Walton Enterprises and their individual holdings.

Walmart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972 and switched to the Nasdaq in December 2025. By 1988, it was the most profitable retailer in the U.S., and it had become the largest in terms of revenue by October 1989. The company was originally geographically limited to the South and lower Midwest, but it had stores from coast to coast by the early 1990s.