From the sheer size of the company, its sales, labor force and wealth to the Walton family itself

We all know Walmart is the biggest retailer in the world, nearly four times the size of its nearest competitor. It’s so big that the space used by its stores is equal to 1.5 times the area of Manhattan (35 square miles). That is just a sample of the jaw dropping Walmart Statistics your about to see.

Walmart earned its reputation by having the lowest prices in the land. It provides these low prices with a combination of state of the art logistics, importing and manufacturing its merchandise by using cheap third world labor and exploiting its retail workers at home.

I’m not going to get into the evils of Walmart or the Walton Family, I would require a book deal to undergo such a task, but there are plenty of documentaries you can watch. In order to understand just how big & wealthy (and bad) Walmart is, we only need to examine the numbers.

Bigger than Jesus

  • The space used by Walmart stores is equal to 1.5 times the area of Manhattan.
  • They operate over 11,000 stores in 27 countries (2013).
  • 90% of the 300 million plus Americans live within 15 minutes of a Walmart.
  • Walmarts use up five times more energy than the state of Vermont.
  • If Walmart was an army, it would have the second largest in the world, behind China.
  • Walmart is bigger than Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Sears, Costco, and K-Mart combined.

walmart statisticsSell, Sell, Sell

  • Walmart rings-up 7.2 billion transactions a year.
  • Americans spend $36 million an hour at Walmart.
  • In 2008, Walmart profited $40,000 every minute.
  • Of every dollar spent in the United States, 8 cents of it goes to Walmart.
  • Walmart’s $444 billion in revenue last year (2012) makes it the 26th largest economy in the world.
  • Walmart is also the biggest grocer with a third of its revenue coming from groceries (141 Billion). They sell nearly four times more than their biggest competitor (Safeway).
  • The average family of four spends over $4,000 a year at Walmart.

The Workers

  • Walmart employs 2.1 million workers worldwide. Roughly 1.3 million in the United States.
  • The average salary for a full time employee in the US is impossible to say, but Glassdoor.com, which is based on employee reviews of companies, puts the average sales associate’s salary at $8.86 per hour, or a salary of $17,841.
  • Walmart associates are the single biggest group of food stamp recipients.
  • According to Alan Grayson, associates receive $1,000 on average in public assistance.
  • In 2008, Walmart agreed to pay at least $352 million to settle lawsuits claiming that it forced employees to work off the clock.

The Waltons

  • The Walton family has given away about 2% of its net worth to charity. Bill Gate has given away 48% and Warren Buffet has given away 78%.
  • According to Forbes, as of 2013 the six Walton heirs are worth a total of $115 billion. Equal to the bottom 42% of Americans combined.
  • Rob, Jim, and Alice Walton will receive an estimated $3.1 billion in Walmart dividends from their majority stake in the company… this year alone.
  • It would take the average Walmart associate 7 million years to earn as much wealth as the Walton family

walmart statistics, waltons fortuneOther Facts

  • In 2000, Walmart was sued 4,851 times; about once every 2 hours. It still averages about 5,000 lawsuits a year.
  • Walmart costs taxpayers roughly $3 billion a year in public subsidies.

 

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