As of October 31, 2022,[update] Walmart has 10,586 stores and clubs in 24 countries, operating under 46 different names.[2][3][4] Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in October 2022.[14] Walmart is also the largest private employer in the world, with 2.1 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business, 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.[15]
Walmart was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. By 1988, it was the most profitable retailer in the U.S.,[16] and it had become the largest in terms of revenue by October 1989.[17] The company was originally geographically limited to the South and lower Midwest, but it had stores from coast to coast by the early 1990s. Sam's Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989, and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster, in July 1990. A Walmart in York, Pennsylvania, opened in October 1990, the first main store in the Northeast.[18]
Walmart's investments outside the U.S. have seen mixed results. Its operations and subsidiaries in Canada,[19] the United Kingdom (ASDA),[20] Central America, Chile (Líder), and China are successful, but its ventures failed in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and Argentina.[21][22][23][24]
^"Our History". Corporate.Walmart.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
^ ab"Annual report"(PDF). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Archived(PDF) from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 19, 2022.
^"Form 8K – Walmart Inc". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 1, 2018. Archived from the original on December 24, 2020. Retrieved February 1, 2018.