The Walton family is the richest family in the United States and one of the richest in the world. They are heirs to the Walmart fortune and the company’s largest shareholders, with a nearly-fifty percent ownership of stock in the retail giant.
Sam Walton and his brother Bud opened their first Walmart discount store in 1962. Today three family members serve on Walmart’s board of directors;[1] Rob is the chair, and sits on the board with his brother Jim and his son-in-law, Greg Penner.
Six members of the family rank among the top eleven on Forbes’ list of wealthiest Americans,[2] with a net worth of about $93 billion. With their 49% stake in Walmart, they brought in $2.2 billion in dividends off of Walmart stock last year alone.
The Waltons aren’t just the face of the 1%; they’re the face of the 0.000001%. In 2007, when the six Waltons on the Forbes list were worth $69.7 billion, their wealth was equal to the total wealth of the bottom 30% of American families.[3] When new data on American wealth is available next year, it will probably show an even wider gap between the Waltons and the rest of American families. The Waltons are worth $93 billion now, while most Americans still haven’t recovered from the recession.
Why does all of this matter? While the Waltons are building billion-dollar museums,[4] driving million-dollar cars,[5] and jumping between vacation homes, Walmart, the country’s largest private employer, is paying its associates an average of $8.81 an hour.[6] The Waltons make billions a year off of a company most of them don’t even work for, while Walmart associates struggle for respect on the job and enough pay to make ends meet.
Through their family legacy, places on Walmart’s board of directors, and their 49% stake in the company, the Waltons have the power to turn 1.4 million Walmart jobs into good jobs.
[1] http://investors.walmartstores.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=112761&p=irol-govboard
[2] http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/
[3] http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/12/05/the-few-the-proud-the-very-rich/
[4] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-13/wal-mart-heiress-s-museum-a-moral-blight-commentary-by-jeffrey-goldberg.html
[5] http://www.thenassauguardian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18252&Itemid=2
[6] http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/searchlight/20110214/203/3463
Why Do you support ALEC? It is not like you need them!
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“As you failed to do it for these my brothers and sisters, you also failed to do it for me”! I suspect that like most of the super wealthy of the south, you’re the super religious types. How about being super kind, decent, caring, sharing, supporting, giving and moral. Lead the nation/world with the best benefits for employees available. You can afford it and you know it! Try doing “the right thing” for once in you overpriviledged lives!!!!!
Watch what you wish for look at the Twinkie & wounded bread co….. Now no one has a job 18,000 gone! But the rich will continue to never see from a poor mans eyes that’s reality…..
All of the greed has caused me at 40 yrs of age, to study the Nordic countries. I would pay higher taxes to invest in affordable health care and affordable education. Capitalism has a bad taste now. We could never restructure to avoid self-centered greed. I love rewards for hard work, but Socialism is now looking better to me as environmental and ethical.
As an old school manager there in a warehouse its partly because they are bringing managers off the street that do not work there way up from hourly associates like in the past and they have total disregard for the associate cause they have never been in there shoes like I have so they need to bring that back and do need to either give associates stock and I agree with higher wages
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the Walton families approached the WalMart board and collectively requested that the chain suspend the sale of guns and, simultaneously, make a statement that they would hope that their initiative would encourage other retailers to follow their lead? What an important message that would be, an endowment of such importance and, knowing what I’ve read about Sam, I bet he would approve.
This Walton people are realy scum-bags and ingrates, robbing their poor employees in this modern age and era and been getting away with it.
Anyway , I trust America, very soon nemesis will catch on them .They should learn from the experiences of Lord Black and other coperate thievs who fooled both their employees and share holder for so long that they made it their piggy banks till the US government un-covered their deeds.
Every day is for the thief but ONE day is for the owner of the stolen goods.
Geff Ezeokonkwo
Toronto Ontario, Canada.
When Sam Walton opened Wal-Mart, he wanted to help people and offer cheapier prices. Well that changed when he passed….His sons/family well all they want is to help themselves!!! I do shop Walmart at times and i tell you it discuss me….they will soon offer nothing but their on products ‘GREAT VALUE”!!!! HAHA