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Alice Walton: From Billionaire Heiress to Visionary, A Journey Beyond Walmart Bridging Art and Community

Alice Louise Walton was born in Newport Arkansas on October 7th, 1949, and grew up in Bentonville where her father founded the Walmart empire. She is the youngest of four siblings including S.Robson Walton, Jim Walton, and John Walton, and is the only daughter of the retail giant.

With her economics degree in hand, she embarked on her journey, as an equity analyst and fund manager. She founded an investment bank where she held the positions of president, chairwoman, and CEO.

Alice Walton is recognized not for her expertise and business skills but also for her generous donations, towards supporting art programs as well as education and healthcare initiatives that aim to improve economic opportunities, for many.

Alice Walton is making waves in fields; leading an investment bank and contributing to groundbreaking advancements in medicine; reshaping the perception of billionaires incrementally, with every dollar she invests or donates.

Alice Louise Walton – Biography

Name	Alice Walton
Born	October 7, 1949
Nationality	American
Hometown	Newport, Arkansas
Education	Trinity University
Parents	Sam Walton (Father) and Helen Walton (Mother)
Siblings	Rob Walton, John Walton, Jim Walton
Net Worth	$94.2 Billion (as of November 2024)
Known for	Heiress to the Walmart fortune, World’s Wealthiest Woman (2024)

Alice Walton – Early Life and Education
Alice Walton – Career
Alice Walton – Personal Life
Alice Walton – Political Motivations
Alice Walton – Association with Art
Alice Walton – Philanthropic Works
Alice Walton – Contribution to the Healthcare Sector
Alice Walton Awards
Alice Walton – Interesting Facts

Alice Walton – Early Life and Education

Born to Sam and Helen Walton, Alice was raised with her three brothers in Bentonville, Arkansas. She completed her high school education in 1966 from Bentonville High School and went on to get her BA in economics from Trinity University.

Alice Walton – Career

Alice started her career as an equity analyst and money manager for First Commerce Corporation. After which she went on to head the entire investment portfolio at Arvest Bank Group. She also had a brief stint as a broker for EF Hutton. Her actual career break came in 1988 when she founded the Llama Company, an investment bank. Sadly, the company folded in 1998 due to the bond market crash.

Alice Walton – Personal Life

Alice’s personal life remains shrouded in mystery with information except, for what the tabloids have shared about her past marriage to a well-known investment banker, from Louisiana, which ended in divorce after just two and a half years.

Regrettably, Alice’s past includes a series of car crashes—one of them turned fatal back, in 1983 when she lost control of her Jeep and veered into a ravine, to Acapulco resulting in a leg that required airlifting out of Mexico and multiple surgeries since then she continues to endure persistent leg pain.

Again in April 1989, Alice struck and killed 50-year-old Oleta Hardin. But no charges were filed. In 2021, she was arrested for a DWI in Parker County, Texas. Unfortunately, the arresting officer was suspended and the DA let the statute of limitations for the charges to expire.

Alice Walton – Political Motivations

Alice Walton was one of the largest individual contributors in the 2004 elections where she donated $2.6 million to the Conservation Progress for America Group. In 2012, she contributed over $200,000 to the Restore Our Future campaign, associated with Mitt Romney. In 2016, she donated $353,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund to support Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Alice Walton – Association with Art

Alice is an avid lover of Art, and as stories go, she purchased a print of Picasso’s Blue Nude at only 10 years of age. In 1980 she purchased her first-ever artwork, two Winslow Homer watercolours.

Following is the list of some pieces she purchased:

December 2004 – Collection of Daniel and Rita Fraad
2005 – Aher Brown Durand’s Kindred Spirits for $35 million
2009 – Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter for $4.9 million

Some other artists’ works she owns are:

Paintings by Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper
Portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale
Smoker #9 by Tom Wesselmann
Georgia O’Keeffe
Mark Rothko
Kehinde Wiley
Titus Kaphar

Alice’s love for art led to the Walton Family Foundation building the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Built on 120 acres of Walton land, the museum opened its doors in 2011 and has had more than 13 million visitors as of 2024. Alice made sure that the museum was free for all, as she wanted to give people the opportunity to view art.

Alice Walton – Philanthropic Works

The Walton family is associated with multiple philanthropic institutions, one of the biggest being the Alice L. Walton Foundation. Founded in 2017, the foundation has expanded into art, education, health, and the economy as well. The foundation has supported the following:

2020 – The University of Central Arkansas $3 million received funding for its fine arts program
2020 – The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences received $1.28 million to provide healthy food for schools.
2022 – Northwest Arkansas Food Bank received $3.5 million: $3 million for the construction of a food distribution center, and $500,000 for purchase and distribution of food.

Another philanthropic association Alice formed was the Art Bridges Foundation. The foundation helps fund, collect, and transport exhibits, and create programs with different museums. The foundation also has a Fellows Program that helps people from underrepresented groups to work with their museum partners.

Alice Walton – Contribution to the Healthcare Sector

Alice Walton helped set up the Whole Health Institute in 2019. The main aim of the institution is to help the health system and communities gain access to holistic healthcare for all. In 2021, the institute promoted the building of a nonprofit medical school in Bentonville that would focus on allopathic medicine.

The Alice L. Walton Foundation in 2021 partnered with the Cleveland Clinic to evaluate the entire healthcare system in Northwest Arkansas. Post the evaluation, the foundation and the Washington Regional Medical System had plans to create a nonprofit medical system that helped train doctors in fields such as neurology, oncology, and cardiology.

Alice Walton Awards

2012 – Time magazine most influential people in the world
2013 – Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art Medal
2018 – International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame inductee
2020 – John Paul Getty Medal

Alice Walton – Interesting Facts

Alice Walton is one of the richest women in the world as per Forbes list at $94.2 billion.
She is a supporter of the Republican party and has donated millions.
She is a licensed pilot and has flown a plane herself for years.
She is also a patron of the arts and has donated millions to museums.

FAQ

How many Waltons are billionaires?

The Walton billionaires are:

Rob Walton
Jim Walton
Alice Walton
Lukas Walton
Christy Walton
Ann Walton Kroenke
Nancy Walton Laurie

Who is the #1 richest family?

The Walton family is the #1 richest family.

How many times has Alice Walton been married?

Alice Walton has been married twice, but both marriages ended in divorce.

November 19, 2024

Top 7 Subsidiaries of Walmart: The Biggest Retail Store

Imagine finding a marketplace, where you can get almost anything and everything. Well, you don’t have to imagine anymore, because a place like that already exists in reality itself. From groceries to furniture, almost everything you need can be found under a single roof, thanks to the world’s biggest retail corporation, Walmart.

This American multinational corporation was founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton and has been serving its customer since then. It also comes under the list of the top 5 largest corporations in the world by sales. Approximately 40% of products in Walmart are produced by contractors and manufacturers for the retail store itself, basically, it is private-labeled.

Walmart has been with its customer as a trusted partner since its beginning and currently has more than 11,000 stores in 27 countries that run under different names. The headquarters is situated in Bentonville, United States, this store sells over 75 million products and largest private company to employ over 2.2 million people.

This retail giant has captured almost all the largest marketplace and has subsidiaries, almost all over the world. This retail giant mostly concentrates on selling quality products at a reasonable price, thus giving cut-throat competition to its competitors.

“There is only one boss, The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

–Sam Walton

In this article, we will talk about all the popular subsidiaries that are owned by Walmart. So let’s dive into it.

Sam’s Club
Seiyu Group
Jet.Com
Eloquii
Flipkart
Bodega Aurrera
Moosejaw
FAQ

Sam’s Club

The child of Walmart itself, Sam’s Club was founded in 1983 by Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton. This member’s only retail warehouse was started to give access to different products and services to those who want to make their small businesses successful.

This warehouse club offers its members good products at a reasonable value. The headquarters is in Bentonville, United States. Over 600 warehouse clubs over the United States and Puerto Rico, give the members an option to buy products in a huge quantity. The current CEO of the club is Kathryn McLay.

The club has been able to win customers by offering some features like free shipping to its plus members. The revenue of Sam’s Club is $64 billion in 2021.

Seiyu Group

This is a Japanese retails store group consists of supermarkets, department stores, and shopping centers. It was formed in the year 1963 by Seibu Department Stores. It is home to a great collection of fresh food, general merchandise, and clothes and offers them to its customers.

In the year 2002, Walmart bought about 37% of Seiyu. While in 2003, a deal was signed between Seiyu and Walmart that states it will teach global supply chain practices to the former. Walmart became the owner of Seiyu in 2008 after obtaining the majority stake of the company. With its headquarters situated in Tokyo, Japan, the company is headed by Lionel Desclee.

Jet.com

Founded in the year 2014 by Marc Lore, Mike Hanrahan, and Nate Faust, this is an E-commerce retail store, where one can get anything from groceries to beauty products. The headquarters was situated in New Jersey, United States.

In the month of August of 2016, Walmart acquired Jet.com with $3 billion in cash and $3 million in Walmart stocks. It is considered the biggest purchase of an e-commerce site in the history of this industry. Unfortunately, Walmart closed Jet.com in the year 2020.

Eloquii

This online plus-size clothing store designed trending clothes and accessories for plus-size people. Eloquii Design with its headquarters situated in New York, United States was founded in the year 2012 by Jodi Arnold, John Auerbach, Julie Carnevale, and Steve Zawada.

Walmart acquired Eloquii in the year 2018 by paying $100 million in cash. Currently, the CEO of this online clothing store that is the destination of fashion for plus-size people is Mariah Chase.

Flipkart

India’s one of the largest online retail stores was founded in the year 2007 by Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal. It is situated in Bangalore, India; it is undoubtedly currently one of the biggest online marketplaces that offers 30 million products to its customer in 70 plus categories.

Walmart in 2018 grabbed the opportunity and acquired Flipkart for $16 billion. From 100 orders per day to 10,000 orders per day, it has come a long way, Walmart decision to acquire it is surely one of the greatest deals. The CEO of Flipkart is Kalyan Krishnamurthy and its revenue as of 2020 is Rs 34,610 crore.

Bodega Aurrera

The biggest Mexican food and beverage store was founded in the year 1958 as Aurrera. In 2001, Walmart bought Bodega Aurrera, currently, its headquarters is situated in Mexico City, Mexico.

This subsidiary of Walmart is the leading grocery store and has over 2044 plus stores all over the region. As of now, the CEO of Bodega Aurrera is Raul Quintana.

Moosejaw

This retail store mostly offers outdoor clothing like sweatshirts, hats, short shoes, and objects required for camping and traveling. Founded in the year 1992 by Robert Wolfe and David Jaffe, this online e-commerce site was acquired by Walmart in the year 2017 for $51 million. From snowboarding to rock climbing, to hiking, every item needed for this adventure can be found in Moosejaw.

Conclusion

With acquiring so many subsidiaries since its founding in 1962, it has become one of the biggest companies in the world and took the spot of Number 1 by revenue. Apart from offline retail stores, it is acquiring the biggest e-commerce stores of different countries to spread its business. Walmart is in the mood of world domination and at this point, it is not going to stop at any moment.

FAQ

Who owns Walmart?

Walmart is owned and controlled by the Walton family.

What is the revenue of Walmart?

The revenue of Walmart is 55,920 crores USD as of 2021.

Who is the founder of Walmart?

Sam Walton founded Walmart in 1962.

October 5, 2021

Sam Walton: Founder of Walmart

Sam Walton was an American businessman and entrepreneur. He is famous for establishing the retailers Walmart and Sam’s Club. Walmart is an American multi-national retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets. It eventually grew and became the world’s largest corporation by revenue and the biggest private employer. For a specific period of time, Sam was the richest man in America. He also received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. At the time of his death, he had a net worth of $8.6 billion.

Sam Walton: Walmart story

Sam Walton- Biography

Name	Samuel Moore Walton
Born	29 March, 1918
Birthplace	Kingfisher, Oklahoma, U.S
Death	5 April, 1992
Life-span	74 years
Nationality	American
Education	University of Missouri
Profession	Businessman
Known for	Founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club
Net worth	$8.6 billion ( at the time of death)
Father	Gibson Walton
Mother	Nancy Lee
Brother	James "Bud" Walton
Spouse	Helen Robson
Children	S. Robson Walton, John T. Walton, Jim Walton, and Alice Walton
Grandson	Lukas Walton

Sam Walton – Personal Life
Sam Walton – Education
Sam Walton – Professional Life
Sam Walton – Military Journey
Sam Walton – Startup
Sam Walton – Walmart
Sam Walton – Sam’s Club

Sam Walton – Personal Life

Sam was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He lived with his parents near their farm. However, the family was unable to cope up with their financial needs through farming. Gibson Walton, Sam’s father, then decided to mortgage his farm and worked for his brother’s Mortgage Company which was an agent of Metropolitan Life Insurance.

The family later moved to Columbia, Missouri. He grew up during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He used to do the household chores like milking the cow, bottling the surplus, and delivering it to customers to meet the financial ends of the family. After completing his household errands, he used to deliver Columbia Daily Tribune newspapers on paper route and sell magazine subscriptions.

Sam Walton – Education

Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout while studying in eighth grade in Shelbina, Missouri. He then studied at David H. Hickman High School in Columbia and was given the title of the ‘most versatile boy’.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Economics from University of Missouri in 1940 and was voted as the “permanent president” of the class.

Sam Walton – Professional Life

Sam did various jobs to fulfill the financial requirements of his family during the Great Depression period. He waited tables in exchange for meals. He earned several honors and awards. He joined the Zeta Phi part of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He also received the QEBH, the national military honor Scabbard and Blade. Sam Walton also served as the president of Burall Bible Class and Stephens College.

He joined J. C. Penney as a management trainee in Des Moines, lowa. This job paid him $75 per month. He resigned after 18 months in 1942 to join the military force serving in World War II.

Sam Walton – Military Journey

Sam’s military journey taught him to be a giver rather than a taker. He also realized his interest in retailing and business while serving in the military. He joined the military in the U. S Army Intelligence Corps and supervised security at aircraft plants and at prisoner of war camps. He eventually acquired the prestigious position of captain. Sam Walton then left the Army and to work on his retail store idea.

Sam Walton – Startup

At age 26, Sam started his first variety store with a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law and $5,000 that he saved while serving in the Army. He then purchased a store which was a franchise of Butler Brothers chain. He offered prices as good or better than the nearby stores and consistently stocked a variety of goods in his store.

He opened his second store called the Eagle department store. After seeing the growth in sales, the landlord started rolling out some contracts/clauses which Sam wasn’t comfortable with. Sam was forced to leave the rented store and got fixtures for $50,000 which he called “a fair price”.

He purchased a new location in Bentonville that eventually grew from $72,000 to $105,000 in the first year of sales and then to $175,000. The new store was named “Five and Dime”. Sam was encouraged to escort more locations and open more Ben Franklin franchises.

Sam Walton – Walmart

The company was first labeled Walmart on 2 July, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. It was then called Wal-Mart Discount City store. Sam focused on marketing American-made products and worked on finding American manufacturers who could supply merchandise for the whole Walmart chain at reasonable prices to stand firmly before foreign competitors.

Sam’s model for Walmart Incorporation offered two advantages; the first one was ‘limited existing competition’. The second advantage was the gigantic store that discouraged businesspersons in the nearby areas from entering the market. He emphasized logistics, locating stores of regional warehouses, and distributing through Walmart-owned trucking service.

Sam Walton – Sam’s Club

Sam introduced Sam’s club, an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Incorporation. Sam’s Club was founded in 1983 and it was named after the founder. The company ranks second among warehouses clubs in sales volume with sales worth $57.839 billion. Sam’s Club operates 599 membership warehouse clubs in 44 states of the U.S.

February 14, 2021

Tag: Sam Walton