Wide warehouse-store aisle with shoppers, carts, tall shelving, and polished concrete floors.

The History of Walmart: From Discount Store to Omnichannel Retailer

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Walmart’s history is a story of expanding the system around its stores. The business grew from a regional discount chain toward national scale by pairing store growth with distribution, information systems, and new retail formats.

Later, international expansion, market exits, legal and compliance challenges, e-commerce acquisitions, membership, advertising, and fulfillment reshaped the business again. By 2026, Walmart combined a vast physical network with an increasingly integrated digital model.

A Quick Look at the History of Walmart

Company History Summary

Walmart grew from a regional discount chain into a multinational retailer by expanding the operating system around its stores. Distribution, information technology, Sam’s Club, Supercenters, international operations, and later digital capabilities each changed what the business could do.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. became a public company in 1970 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. The legal name changed to Walmart Inc. in 2018, while the same corporation continued. By 2026, its business combined physical retail with e-commerce, marketplace, membership, advertising, and fulfillment services.

Company Snapshot

Founded / Origin: The first Wal-Mart opened on July 2, 1962. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on October 31, 1969.

Founder(s): Sam Walton was the principal founder. His brother and business partner James “Bud” Walton is also identified as a co-founder.

Origin / Founding Location: Rogers, Arkansas, for the first Wal-Mart store.

Headquarters: Bentonville, Arkansas.

Industry: Retail.

Key Businesses: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club U.S. are the company’s reportable segments.

Current Leadership: John Furner became president and CEO of Walmart Inc. on February 1, 2026.

Ownership: Walmart is publicly traded. Its 2026 proxy stated that entities related to Sam Walton’s family held approximately 44% of the shares as of April 10, 2026.

Best Known For: Large-scale discount retail, Supercenters, Sam’s Club, and an increasingly integrated physical and digital retail model.

Before Walmart: Sam Walton’s Retail Groundwork

Sam Walton’s 1945 Ben Franklin franchise was a precursor to Walmart, not Walmart itself. After World War II, Walton acquired the franchise in Newport, Arkansas, where he developed an approach built around lower markups and greater sales volume.

After losing the Newport lease, Walton moved to Bentonville and opened Walton’s 5 & 10 in 1950. He and his business partners expanded their variety-store interests during the 1950s and early 1960s. His brother and business partner James “Bud” Walton is also identified as a Walmart co-founder.

The Encyclopedia of Arkansas reports that Walton proposed deeper discounting to the Ben Franklin organization. When that approach was not adopted, he pursued his own discount-store concept. The first Wal-Mart opened in Rogers in 1962.

Building a Company That Could Scale

The Wal-Mart chain expanded during the 1960s. By 1967, Walmart’s corporate history reported 24 stores and $12.7 million in sales. The growing footprint was followed by changes in corporate structure and operating infrastructure.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on October 31, 1969. The company became publicly traded in 1970 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972.

Centralized distribution also became part of the model. Historical accounts differ on whether Walmart’s first distribution center opened in 1970 or 1971, but they place the development at the beginning of the decade. Walmart later expanded its use of point-of-sale technology, communications systems, and other tools that helped support a larger store network.

A pattern was taking shape: store expansion was being matched by investment in the systems needed to move merchandise and information across a growing chain.

Sam’s Club, Supercenters, and National Scale

During the 1980s, Walmart broadened the business beyond the original discount-store format. The first Sam’s Club opened in Midwest City, Oklahoma, in 1983, taking the group into membership warehouse-club retail.

The first Walmart Supercenter followed in Washington, Missouri, in 1988. It combined general merchandise with a full supermarket, giving Walmart another format for serving a wider range of customer purchases.

The decade also brought greater use of information and communications technology. Walmart’s corporate history dates completion of a private satellite network to 1987. Point-of-sale and communications systems also became increasingly important as the chain expanded.

Leadership changed as well. David Glass became CEO in 1988. By 1990, contemporary reporting showed Walmart surpassing Sears to become the largest U.S. retailer by sales.

International Expansion—and Its Limits

Walmart’s next major shift was geographic. International expansion began with a joint venture with Cifra in Mexico in 1991, with related fiscal reporting appearing in the following fiscal year.

Sam Walton died in April 1992, and Rob Walton succeeded him as chairman. The company then used different entry methods in other markets. In 1994, Walmart acquired 122 Woolco department stores in Canada. Walmart’s corporate history dates its first stores in China to 1996. In 1999, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. acquired Asda in the United Kingdom for approximately $10.8 billion.

H. Lee Scott succeeded David Glass as CEO in 2000. International expansion did not produce a one-way progression: Walmart disposed of its South Korean and German retail operations in 2006. Mike Duke became president and CEO on February 1, 2009, after Scott retired from the CEO position.

The portfolio continued to change. Walmart sold majority control of Asda in 2021 while retaining a minority investment. It also reduced its ownership in Seiyu in Japan through a transaction involving KKR and Rakuten.

By then, international growth had become a story of both entry and retrenchment. Walmart remained a multinational retailer, but full ownership and long-term presence varied by market.

Legal and Compliance Challenges at Larger Scale

Legal and regulatory matters also became part of Walmart’s history. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed certification of a nationwide employment-discrimination class in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes. The ruling concerned class-certification requirements rather than a general determination on whether discrimination had occurred across Walmart.

In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice announced Foreign Corrupt Practices Act resolutions connected to Walmart’s international operations. The SEC matter concerned books-and-records and internal-accounting-control requirements. In the coordinated DOJ matter, Walmart Inc. entered a non-prosecution agreement while its Brazil-based subsidiary pleaded guilty.

Walmart later entered nationwide opioid-related settlements beginning in 2022. In August 2026, the company agreed to pay $50 million to resolve federal Controlled Substances Act allegations. The Justice Department stated that the resolved claims were allegations and that there had been no determination of liability.

The FCPA episode underscored a practical consequence of international expansion: compliance systems had to keep pace with operations across multiple jurisdictions and third-party relationships.

From E-Commerce Expansion to an Omnichannel Model

Walmart’s fiscal 2026 filing dates its e-commerce activity to 1996, but digital retail became a much larger part of the company’s strategy in the 2010s. Doug McMillon became president and CEO on February 1, 2014, and several major digital moves followed.

In 2016, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. agreed to acquire Jet.com for approximately $3 billion in cash plus up to $300 million in Walmart shares. The company said the transaction was intended to accelerate e-commerce growth. That same year, McMillon described the direction of retail this way: “The distinctions between stores, apps, pickup, delivery and websites are blurring.”

Walmart added another major digital investment in 2018, spending approximately $16 billion for roughly 77% of Flipkart. That year also brought a corporate identity change: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. became Walmart Inc. on February 1, 2018. The change was a legal name amendment, not the creation of a new corporation.

By 2020, Walmart had unified major U.S. store and e-commerce teams and discontinued Jet.com. Management later described the Jet acquisition as important to accelerating Walmart’s omnichannel strategy.

Walmart+ launched nationally in September 2020, connecting delivery, fuel, and other benefits in a paid membership program. In 2021, Walmart renamed and expanded its U.S. media business as Walmart Connect.

Physical stores were increasingly serving more than walk-in retail. The network was becoming part of a model that connected stores, e-commerce, pickup, delivery, marketplace, membership, advertising, and fulfillment.

New Businesses Around the Retail Core

The early 2020s brought further portfolio changes. PhonePe completed its organizational separation from Flipkart in 2022, while Walmart remained the majority shareholder of both businesses at that time.

In December 2024, Walmart completed its acquisition of VIZIO for approximately $2.3 billion in fully diluted equity value. VIZIO became a wholly owned Walmart subsidiary reported within Walmart U.S. Walmart connected the transaction in part to the development of Walmart Connect and its advertising business.

By fiscal 2026, Walmart’s filings described a business that still centered on stores and e-commerce but also included marketplace, membership, advertising, fulfillment services, automation, data, and artificial intelligence.

The connection to Walmart’s earlier history is operational. The company first built scale through stores, distribution, and information systems; it later began using that physical network as infrastructure for digital shopping, delivery, fulfillment, and additional services.

Walmart in 2026

John Furner became president and CEO of Walmart Inc. on February 1, 2026, succeeding Doug McMillon after McMillon’s 12 years as CEO.

For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, Walmart reported total revenues of approximately $713.2 billion, approximately 10,900 stores in 19 countries, and about 2.1 million associates worldwide. Its three reportable segments were Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam’s Club U.S.

Management’s current direction continued to combine physical retail with digital capabilities and additional revenue streams. In the second quarter of fiscal 2027, Walmart reported global e-commerce growth of 23%, global advertising growth of 38%, and membership-fee revenue growth of 17%. Those figures are period-specific operating markers, not forecasts.

From Discount Stores to a Broader Retail Platform

Walmart’s history is a series of expansions in capability as much as geography. Distribution and information systems supported a larger chain. Sam’s Club and Supercenters broadened the formats. International operations extended the footprint while later exits showed that expansion also required retrenchment.

In the digital era, management increasingly connected stores with e-commerce, pickup, delivery, marketplace, membership, advertising, and fulfillment. As of September 2026, that transition remained part of Walmart’s current chapter under newly appointed CEO John Furner.

Timeline

This timeline highlights the milestones that most clearly changed Walmart’s structure, scale, geographic reach, or operating model.

Timeline.

1945

Sam Walton opens a Ben Franklin franchise in Newport, Arkansas.

1950

After losing the Newport lease, Walton moves to Bentonville and opens Walton’s 5 & 10.

July 2, 1962

The first Wal-Mart store opens in Rogers, Arkansas.

October 31, 1969

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is incorporated in Delaware.

1970

Wal-Mart becomes publicly traded.

1970–1971

Walmart establishes its first dedicated distribution capability. Historical accounts differ on whether the first distribution center should be dated to 1970 or 1971.

1972

Wal-Mart stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

1983

The first Sam’s Club opens in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

1988

The first Walmart Supercenter opens in Washington, Missouri. David Glass also becomes CEO.

1990

Contemporary reporting shows Walmart becoming the largest U.S. retailer by sales.

1991

Walmart begins its international expansion through a joint venture with Cifra in Mexico.

1992

Sam Walton dies, and Rob Walton becomes chairman.

1994

Walmart acquires 122 Woolco stores in Canada.

1996

Walmart enters China. The company’s later filings also date the beginning of its e-commerce activity to 1996.

1999

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. acquires Asda and enters the United Kingdom.

2000

H. Lee Scott becomes CEO.

2006

Walmart exits its retail operations in Germany and South Korea.

February 1, 2009

Mike Duke becomes president and CEO.

2011

The U.S. Supreme Court reverses nationwide class certification in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes.

February 1, 2014

Doug McMillon becomes president and CEO.

2016

Walmart agrees to acquire Jet.com as part of its push to expand e-commerce.

February 1, 2018

The legal name changes from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to Walmart Inc.

2018

Walmart invests approximately $16 billion for roughly 77% of Flipkart.

2019

Walmart resolves Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters with the SEC and DOJ.

2020

Walmart discontinues Jet.com and launches Walmart+.

2021

Walmart introduces the Walmart Connect name for its U.S. media business and sells majority ownership of Asda and Seiyu.

2022

PhonePe completes its separation from Flipkart while Walmart remains the majority shareholder of both businesses.

December 3, 2024

Walmart completes its approximately $2.3 billion acquisition of VIZIO.

February 1, 2026

John Furner becomes president and CEO of Walmart Inc.

August 28, 2026

Walmart agrees to pay $50 million to resolve federal Controlled Substances Act allegations without a determination of liability.

FAQs

Question: When was Walmart founded?

Answer: The first Wal-Mart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas, on July 2, 1962. The corporation that became today’s Walmart Inc. was incorporated in Delaware in 1969.

Question: Did Walmart begin as a Ben Franklin store?

Answer: No. Sam Walton operated Ben Franklin franchises beginning in 1945, and that experience preceded Walmart. The first Wal-Mart opened in 1962.

Question: Who founded Walmart?

Answer: Sam Walton was Walmart’s principal founder. His brother and business partner James “Bud” Walton is also identified as a co-founder.

Question: When did Walmart become the largest U.S. retailer?

Answer: Contemporary reporting shows Walmart moving into the No. 1 position by sales around 1990, surpassing Sears.

Question: When did Walmart become an international retailer?

Answer: Walmart began its first major international initiative through a joint venture with Cifra in Mexico in 1991, with related fiscal reporting appearing in the following fiscal year.

Question: Why did Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. become Walmart Inc.?

Answer: The legal name changed to Walmart Inc. effective February 1, 2018. It was a name amendment to the same corporation, not a merger or the creation of a new company.

Question: Does Walmart still own Asda?

Answer: Walmart no longer controls Asda. It sold majority ownership in 2021, and Asda reported in November 2024 that Walmart retained a 10% minority stake.

Question: Is Walmart still controlled by the Walton family?

Answer: Walmart is a publicly traded corporation. Its 2026 proxy stated that entities related to Sam Walton’s family held approximately 44% of its shares as of April 10, 2026.

Question: Who is Walmart’s CEO?

Answer: John Furner became president and CEO of Walmart Inc. on February 1, 2026, succeeding Doug McMillon.

Interviews & Firsthand Resources

Doug McMillon on Walmart’s Retail Transformation

In this 2016 Walmart corporate resource, Doug McMillon discussed the changing relationship among stores, apps, pickup, delivery, and websites. It provides a firsthand view of management’s thinking during the period when Walmart was expanding its digital and omnichannel efforts.

View the resource

The 1992 Presidential Medal of Freedom Ceremony for Sam Walton

The American Presidency Project preserves President George H. W. Bush’s remarks from the March 17, 1992 ceremony honoring Sam Walton. The transcript provides contemporary context on Walton, Bud Walton, and Walmart near the end of Sam Walton’s life, while the ceremonial praise reflects the setting in which the remarks were delivered.

View the resource

Sources