Jim Walton

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Quick facts

Family: Third child (and youngest son) of Sam and Helen Walton; sibling of Rob, Alice, and John (deceased). Wife Lynne McNabb Walton; children Alice A. Proietti (b. November 1979), Steuart L. Walton (b. April 1981), Thomas L. Walton (b. September 1983), and James M. Walton (b. August 1987)
Age: 64 (born June 1948)[1]
Current residence: Bentonville, AR.[2]

Wealth

Estimated net worth: $26.8 billion (as of September 2012)

• Jim Walton has direct or indirect ownership interest in 49.8% of outstanding Walmart stock, nearly all of which is through his interest in Walton Enterprises, the family holding company he manages with his siblings Alice, Rob, and John (John’s estate).[3] As a member of Walmart’s Board of Directors, Walton also received $64,000 in compensation and almost $175,000 in stock awards.[4]
• Jim Walton shares 96% ownership of the family’s Arvest Bank, of which he is the chairman and CEO, with Rob Walton and John Walton’s estate[5]; as of September 2012, the bank’s assets totaled approximately $13.8 billion.[6]
• Jim Walton is chair of the Community Publishers, Inc., a newspaper and printing company that publishes newspapers in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. His stake in the company is unclear; however, the company’s website states that the top eight executives and officers own 100% of the stock. The value of the company is unknown but Dun and Bradstreet has reported the company’s annual sales as $18.5 million.[7]

Educational and professional background

Education

Bachelor’s degree, University of Arkansas, 1971[8]

Professional

• Arvest Bank: Jim Walton is the Chairman and CEO of the family’s Arvest Bank.[9] The family banking business began in 1961 when Sam and Helen Walton purchased the Bank of Bentonville for about $300,000[10]; Arvest now has more than 240 branches in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Jim Walton reportedly began his banking career as a teller at the second bank his parents purchased, the Bank of Pea Ridge.[11]
• Community Publishers, Inc.: Jim Walton co-founded CPI in 1982 after he purchased Bentonville’s daily newspaper from his father. [12] CPI now operates 21 newspapers, three printing plants, and multiple newspaper websites.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.: Following his graduation from the University of Arkansas in 1971, Jim Walton worked for Walmart for four years in the company’s real estate division. He joined the company board in September 2005, replacing his brother John, who died in a plane crash in June 2005.

Political giving

Jim Walton is recognized as a prolific donor to politicians at both the federal and state level—indeed, in 2006, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Walton topped the list of Arkansans giving directly to candidates or political action committees.[13]

Federal giving

Jim Walton has given nearly $440,000 to candidates for federal office since the beginning of the 2006 election cycle—93% to Republicans or Republican-affiliated political action committees. About half of that total has gone to the PACs supporting Republican candidates for Congress; other top recipients of Jim Walton’s donations include the Republican Party of Arkansas and John Boozman’s (junior senator from Arkansas) Arkansas for Leadership PAC.[14]

Examples of state giving

• Wisconsin: The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reported in September 2011 that Jim Walton and his wife Lynne were among the top individual contributors to winning state legislative candidates in the 2010 elections that put Republicans in control of the state government. Six of the top ten contributors were members of the Walton family. Under the first budget passed by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-majority legislature, funding for public schools was cut by $800 million over two years, while funding for programs that funnel public money to private schools increased by $17 million over two years.
• Various states: In 2004, Jim and John Walton both gave more than $3 million to an organization called All Children Matter, a committee headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., which supports privatizing public education through charter schools and voucher programs. During that election cycle, the organization spent about $8 million supporting state-level politicians in 10 states.[15]

Community connections

• Walton Family Foundation: Board of Directors^[16]

• Northwest Arkansas Council: Presiding Co-Chair. The council is a regional development non-profit whose original membership included Arkansas business magnates such as Sam Walton, John Tyson, and J.B. Hunt.[17] Jim Walton’s sister, Alice, was the first chairperson of the council. [18]
• Arkansas Education Accountability Coalition: Member; AEAC is “a blue-ribbon group of influential business and community leaders from across the state that leverages its resources to preserve the tenants [sic] of Act 35, the state’s academic progress assessment.” (Two employees of the Walton Family Foundation are also listed as members of AEAC.)
• Arkansas Public School Resource Center: Member, Policy Board. APRSC is an organization supporting charter schools and “school choice.”
• Economics Arkansas: Member of Executive Committee for non-profit organization promoting children’s education in free-market economics.