18 Amazing Facts About Wal-Mart

by:  Sheldon Barry Cwinn (adapted from Business insider.com)

Sometimes we forget just how amazing Wal-Mart actually is. These crazy 18 facts will allow you to understand the enormity of Wal-Mart as a global corporation....


1- In fiscal year 2012, Wal-Mart registered approximately $444 billion in sales, which is $20 billion more than Austria's GDP. If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be the 26th largest economy in the world. 

2 - Wal-Mart has more employees worldwide — 2.2 million — than the population of Houston. The mega-retailer employs 1.4 million people in the U.S. alone.

3 - If Wal-Mart was an army, it would have the second largest military in the world, behind China

4 - Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot, Kroger, Target, Sears, Costco, and K-Mart combined.

5 -The average family of four spends over $4,000 a year at Wal-Mart.

6 - Each week, Wal-Mart serves more than 200 million customers at more than 10,400 stores in 27 countries.

7 - One of every four dollars Americans spend on groceries is spent at Wal-Mart.

8 - In 2010, CEO Michael Duke's annual salary of $35 million earned him more in an hour than a full-time employee makes in an entire year.

9 - In 2009, Walmart sold more bananas than any other item.

10 - China's exports to Walmart accounted for 11 percent of the growth of the total U.S. trade deficit with China between 2001 and 2006.

11 - If  Wal-Mart's more than 900 million square feet of retail space were spread out over one place it would take up roughly 34 miles, which is about 1.5 times the size of Manhattan.

12 - Wal-Mart parking lots alone take up roughly the size of Tampa, Florida.

13 - In the year 2000 Wal-Mart was sued 4,869 times, or about one lawsuit every 2 hours.

14 - 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart store.

15 - The Walton family has given away about 2% of its net worth to charity. Bill Gates has given 48%. Warren Buffet has given away 78%.

16 - An additional Wal-Mart Supercenter per 100,000 residents increases average BMI by 0.25 units and the obesity rate by 2.4 percent.

17 - The most frequent destination typed into the GPS TeleNav is Wal-Mart

18 - Roughly 4,700 (about 90 percent) of international stores operate under a banner other than Wal-Mart, including Walmex in Mexico, Asda in the UK, Seiyu in Japan, and Best Price in India.