According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, each of the three Walton children, born to Walmart Inc. (NYSE WMT) founder Sam Walton, has lost $600 million of their net worth so far this year.
Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton have each lost $609 million since January 1. However, each still has $124 billion. The family still owns 45% of Walmart’s stock, which is America’s largest company based on revenue. Sam Walton died in 1992.
Walmart was started in 1962 by Sam Walton. Today, it has over 10,000 locations worldwide and employs 2.1 million people. It is the largest employer in the United States, with 1.2 million workers. Last year, the global revenue total was $650 billion.
Walmart claims that in the U.S., where it has over 4,000 stores, 90% of the population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart location.
Walmart’s shares have been good to the family. They are up 164% in the past five years and 85% in the past year. Its current market cap is $850 billion.
Interestingly, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was supposed to put Walmart out of business. Two decades ago, e-commerce was viewed as superior to brick-and-mortar retail. Amazon has been blamed for the demise of Sears, Kmart, and J.C. Penney.
Walmart used its size, created its own e-commerce business, and built a model where people can order online and pick up at stores to compete with Amazon. (Amazon’s shares are up only 33% in the last year.)
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