Finance

16 Facts About Walmart That Will Blow Your Mind

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Walmart
Walmart

Walmart announced earnings this morning. The major retailer reported a net income of $0.97 per share on revenue of $109.5 billion. Analysts were expecting a profit of $0.98 per share on revenue of $108.86 billion. 

Everyone knows Walmart is an impossibly large global corporation intent on world domination.

So just how big is the multinational discount retailer?

Walmart has more employees — 2.1 million — than seven times the population of Iceland.

Rekjavik, Iceland
Rekjavik, Iceland By alex_moss via Creative Commons

In 2011, Walmart registered $419 billion in sales — $7 billion more than Norway's 2010 GPD. If Walmart were a country, it would be the 25th largest economy in the world.

norway kids
ingerson_sharon on flickr

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

ASDA UK Storefront
Walmart

Each week, Walmart serves more than 200 million customers at more than 9,600 retail outlets in 28 countries.

Walmart Store

In 2010, CEO Michael Duke's annual salary of $35 million earned him more in an hour than his employees earned in an entire year working for $8.75/hour.

Walmart CEO Michael Duke
AP Images

Source: ABC News

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

Bananas
Flickr/PinkMoose

Source: Bloomberg

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

shanghai market

Walmart is one of the largest private employers in the USA, and the largest in Mexico.

Walmart
Walmart

If Walmart's more than 900 million square feet of retail space were spread out over one place it would take up roughly 34 miles — about 1.5 times the size of Manhattan.

Manhattan New York
Wikipedia

Source: Daily Finance

Walmart parking lots alone take up roughly the size of Tampa, Florida.

Walmart Parking Lot
K2 images / Shutterstock.com

Source: Walmart Watch

In 2000, Walmart was sued 4,851 times — about once every 2 hours.

Lawyers

Source: UFCW

90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Walmart.

Walmart Parking Lot
K2 images / Shutterstock.com

Source: Business Pundit

The Walton family has given away about 2% of its net worth to charity — Bill Gates is giving away 48% of his net worth and Warren Buffet 78% of his net worth.

Sam Walton

Source: Business Pundit

An additional Walmart Supercenter per 100,000 residents increases average BMI by 0.25 units and the obesity rate by 2.4%.

china obese
reuters

Source: SSRN

The most frequent destination typed into GPS device Telenav is Walmart.

Walmart Parking Lot
By Attitude2000 from Wikimedia Commons

A Walmart store in Shenzen, China has its own fight song ("My heart is filled with pride .. I long to tell you how deep my love for Wal-Mart is ...")

Walmart Beijing
Flickr/Daniel Nig

Source: Time Magazine

Here's another company taking over the globe

mcdonalds
McDonald's

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Dina Spector is the managing editor at Business Insider UK. She is currently based in London.
Ujala Sehgal is a former intern at Business Insider. She was formerly a financial regulatory lawyer. She received her JD from the University of Michigan.