20 Amazing Stats and Facts About Sam Walton

1. About Sam Walton

Samuel Moore Walton was an American businessman and entrepreneur best known for founding Walmart and Sam’s Club retailers. 

2. Born on : Mar 29, 1918, in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, US.

3. Parents Name :  Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee

4. Education : University of Missouri (BS)

5. Business : Founder of Walmart and Sam’s Club

6. First Job : He did various chores to meet financial ends. He milked the cow, bottled and supplied to customers, and used to deliver Columbia Daily Tribune newspaper in addition to a magazine subscription. During his college days, he used to work as a waiter in exchange for meals.

7. After Graduating from college, he joined theJ. C. Penney as a management trainee in Des Moines, Iowa,with a monthly wage of $75.

8. Military Career : He served as a captain in the U.S Military Intelligence Corps Unit at the time of World War II(1942-1945).

9. First store : After leaving the military in 1945, with help of a $20000 loan from his father-in-law and $5000 of his own money, he purchased a Ben Franklin variety store which is the franchise of the Butler Brothers chain.

10. First Walmart Store : The first true Walmart opened on July 2, 1962, at 719 West Walnut Street in Rogers, Arkansas which is also known as the Wal-Mart Discount City store.

11. First Sam’s Club : In 1983, he launched the first Sams Club, which was aimed at small-business owners and others who wished to buy merchandise in bulk.

12. Walmart had become the third-largest retailer in the United States in 1987, trailing Sears and Kmart. 

13. Walton kept prices and salaries low but nevertheless inspired company loyalty in employees, who retired with comfortable pensions as a result of his profit-sharing plan.

14. He stepped down as CEO in 1988 but remained as a company chairman of Walmart.

15. During his lifetime, He opened 1,735 Wal-Marts, 212 Sam’s Clubs, and 13 Supercenters with a total of 380,000 employees and almost $50 billion in annual sales.

16. Honors and Recognition :

•  He was included in Time‘s list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century in 1998.
• He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President George H. W. Bush in Mar 1992.
• Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the richest person in the United States from 1982 to 1988
• At the University of Arkansas, Sam M. Walton College of Business is named in his honor. 
• Walton was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1992.
• He was voted as “permanent president” of the class upon graduating in 1940.
• He was voted as “Most versatile boy” upon graduating fromDavid H. Hickman High School in Columbia.

17. Wife and Children : Helen Robson(wife) and had 4 children:  Samuel Robson, John Thomas, James Car, and Alice Louise.

18. Died on : Apr 5, 1992, at the age of 74 of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer in Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.

19. Walton family took a hit in May 2022, with a loss of $19 billion, falling 11 percent in New York City Wall Street trading.

20. Quotes :

There is only one boss – the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”