The Path to Success
Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, was born in Oklahoma in 1918 and grew up during the Great Depression. He graduated from the University of Missouri and began his lifelong retail career in 1940 as a sales trainee at JCPenney.
When the war ended in 1945, Sam bought his first Ben Franklin Varieté shop (an arts and crafts department store), a franchise department of the Butler Brothers of Chicago. It is said that he brought in 5.000 USD of his own money and borrowed 20.000 USD from his father-in-law to seal the deal.
Walton Enterprises was founded in 1953 by Sam Waltons, who expanded further and opened more than fifteen retail stores in Arkansas and the surrounding area.
His real success was always offering affordable prices to his customers. Having become familiar with self-service, he made customers pick up the goods themselves and pay at the entrance instead of having them served by several sellers. By reducing employees’ salaries, he was able to push prices further down. Due to this strategy, his profits tripled in less than a year.
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The family made the decision to put the company on the stock exchange in 1970. It retained about 61% of the shares, and the listing brought in about 5 million USD. This liquidity measure allowed Sam to settle his debts and start his philanthropic work. He founded the Walton Family Foundation in the 1980s and devoted the rest of his life to improving the education system in America. Walton Enterprises uses this foundation as its charity arm.
Largest Single Family Office
Walton Enterprises has evolved over time to become the most important tool for managing the assets and investments of the family. Sam Walton wanted his four children to have the same share in the company. After the death of his second eldest son, John, his fortune was transferred to his wife, Christy, and their only son, Lukas Walton. Next to Walmart’s headquarters is the Family Office in Bentonville, Arkansas. It also has three additional locations in Washington, Denver, and Jersey City. Sam’s youngest son leads the impressive leadership team.
Today, Walmart has 11,438 branches and clubs in 27 countries with 55 different names and a turnover of 514 billion USD. It is one of the largest private employers in the world, with 2,2 million employees.
The American Walton family, with a combined wealth of about 225 billion USD, is both the world’s richest non-royal family and the richest family in the United States of America.
Investments in many Areas
Robert Walton, the eldest son, was CEO of Walmart until 2015. He also founded the environmental and sustainability department of the Walton Family Foundation. The creation of a Sustainable Fisheries Label was one of the first support initiatives to be made.
The only daughter and second-richest woman in the world, Alice Walton, is an artist. She opened the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, in 2011 at a cost of 50 million USD. It has a private art collection worth 500 million USD in the museum. Jim Walton, the middle son of the family, runs the family-owned Arvest Bank with a fortune of over 20 billion USD. Before transferring his seat to his son, Steuart Walton, in June 2016, he was a member of Walmart’s board of directors for more than a decade.
