Sam Walton | Oklahoma Senate (2024)

FAQs

Was Sam Walton the richest man in the world when he died? ›

When he died in 1992, he was the world's second richest man, behind Bill Gates. He passed his company down to his three sons, daughter and wife. If alive today, his fortune would far exceed that of Bill Gates. Fortune Magazine named Sam Walton as the third greatest CEO of all time.

His family has remained the richest family in the U.S. for several consecutive years, with a net worth of around US$240.6 billion as of January 2022. In 1992 at the age of 74, Walton died of blood cancer and was laid to rest at the Bentonville Cemetery in his longtime home of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Sam Walton was a good leader because of his clear vision, his willingness to take risks, his focus on customers, his emphasis on teamwork, his strong communication skills, and his commitment to continuous learning and improvement.

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.

Legendary founder Sam Walton's three surviving children — Rob, Jim, and Alice — all rank highly on the Forbes rich list with personal fortunes of between $72 billion and $79 billion. They were less than half as wealthy in 2016.

The old Walton store is a real, working store which serves kind of like a gift shop. They sell retro toys and candy and have some of the original fixtures. The original green and red floor tiles still there today in the 5&10 were installed in 1951.

The book is short, interesting and chock-full of great lessons (no matter what you might think of Walmart itself). If Sam Walton was alive today, he would be worth almost $150 Billion (Bill Gates is worth $85 Billion).

The Walton family owns about 45% of Walmart's outstanding shares through the trust and their main investment vehicle, Walton Enterprises, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Alice, Jim and Rob Walton have a combined fortune of $274 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Rockefeller (1839-1937), one of the most remarkable individuals to define the landscape of American business. Rockefeller's estimated $1.4 billion net worth in 1937 was equivalent to 1.5% of U.S. GDP.

Sam was a frugal man, but not just for the sake of frugality. He knew that saving money on expenses meant he could charge lower prices, saving his customers money so they could live better.

What religion was Sam Walton? ›

Not only had Walton built a successful business in Newport, he had invested a lot of himself in the town. He was an active member of the Rotary Club, a member of the board of deacons of the Presbyterian church ("even though I was a Methodist, it worked out real well"), and president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Three days after graduation, Walton became a management trainee with J. C. Penney in Des Moines. During World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, and supervised security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. He eventually reached the rank of captain.

Costco is a publicly traded company, while Sam's Club is a subsidiary of Walmart.

The company, which became the largest retailer in the world with a huge chain of stores, is changing its name to reflect its increasing emphasis on e-commerce. As of Feb. 1, it will no longer be "Wal-Mart Stores" and will get rid of the hyphen and drop "stores" from its legal name.

An estimated 45% of Walmart's stock is held by the families of seven heirs of founders Sam Walton (d. 1992) and his brother Bud (d. 1995). Heirs include Sam's three living children--Rob, Jim and Alice--his daughter-in-law Christy and her son Lukas, plus Bud's two daughters, Ann and Nancy.

Walton died on April 5, 1992. His eldest son, S. Robson Walton, succeeded him as chairman of the corporate board of directors, on April 7, 1992. This year, Walmart had a presence in 45 states which by this time expanded into Idaho, Montana, and Oregon, as well as Puerto Rico.

In 2023, the Sam's Club brand was valued at approximately 16.5 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, the brand's valuation was 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. Sam's Club is a warehouse club operating in 44 states in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Inspired by the early success of his dime store, and driven to bring even greater opportunity and value to his customers, Sam opened the first Walmart in 1962 at the age of 44 in Rogers, Arkansas.