The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the second-richest family in the world.
The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the second-richest family in the world.
Walmart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other countries. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company was founded in 1962 by brothers Sam Walton and James "Bud" Walton in nearby Rogers, Arkansas. It also owns and operates Sam's Club retail warehouses.
Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue. Walmart is also the largest private employer in the world, with 2.1 million employees. It is a publicly traded family-owned business (the largest such business in the world), 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.
Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for co-founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in Rogers, Arkansas, and Midwest City, Oklahoma, in 1962 and 1983 respectively. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew to be the world's largest corporation by revenue as well as the biggest private employer in the world. For a period of time, Walton was the richest person in the United States. His family has remained the richest family in the U.S. for several consecutive years, with a net worth of around $440.6 billion US as of January 2025. In 1992 at the age of 74, Walton died of blood cancer and was buried at the Bentonville Cemetery in his longtime home of Bentonville, Arkansas.
Walton Enterprises LLC (WEI) is an American investment holding company based in Bentonville, Arkansas that serves as a family office to manage the wealth of the Walton family, the owners of Walmart.
Walton Enterprises is the largest shareholder of Walmart and is also the largest family office in the world.