Who Owns Wal-Mart Stores?
Recently, I was reading in one of the local newspapers about Walgreens. The owner of Walgreens is worth an estimated $5.5 million. A man bought it with lots of trouble. He had bought the business at a price that was less than Walgreens’ shares were worth. He had some good employees but also neglected to check out the company’s record on worker safety, quality of products and customer satisfaction.
Eventually, the workers’ union got involved and they are now suing the owner for wrongful firing and discrimination. There are many stores like this around and most are very small or start-up owned by a couple of parents. It seems like any opportunity to make money quickly and grow a business quickly arises. Unfortunately, many of these stores do not last very long. Some of them only last two years before closing.
So, who owns Walgreens? Wal-Mart is one possibility. The question is, can they survive the economic recession? And if they cannot, will they be another casualty of supply and demand? Some analysts believe that the low economy will hurt Wal-Mart as much as any other retailer.
In one of my recent articles, I looked at whether the economic outlook for this country is really bad. I looked at the state of our labor and manufacturing sector. Our trade deficit with China is a big concern. But I also mentioned some very successful businesses, particularly one that is owned by a woman who started it at age 21. So let’s consider the answer to who owns Wal-Mart.
The answer is complicated. We don’t know because the company is not a public company. That means nobody can look into its books or finances. Nobody can say whether their stock price is too high or too low.
What we do know is that many of its retail stores have been hurt by the economic slump. It lost many of its stores in two major shopping centers in Florida and Minnesota. Its revenues have been hit hard by the lower income brackets as well. So, it needs to boost its earnings by increasing its sales and gross profit margins.
Who Owns Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart is a huge corporation. It is almost the largest company in the world. It manufactures everything from cribs to computer monitors. Its stores employ over five million people.
The stores themselves have become huge. A single store in a particular location can attract millions of customers. But it would be a different story if those millions of customers did not turn out to purchase items.
Wal-Mart has a complicated history. Many people question its motives and the motives of its business partners. But one thing is certain. The company’s stock price is an excellent tool for investors to use when deciding whether to buy shares of this publicly held company.
