What Walmart does
Walmart Inc. is a US corporation incorporated in Delaware, with principal offices at 1 Customer Drive, Bentonville, Arkansas. The name identifies both the group and one of its retail banners. This profile covers Walmart Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, spanning retail, e-commerce and associated services. Corporate headquarters, a Walmart store and an investee platform represent different entities and functions; their figures and activities should not be treated as interchangeable.
Walmart Form 10-K: financial year ended 31 January 2026 · Walmart Home Office in Bentonville
From Rogers to international expansion
Sam Walton opened the first Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962, after working in variety stores. The company went public in 1970, opened its first Sam’s Club in 1983 and its first supercenter in 1988, combining groceries and general merchandise. International expansion began with a Mexican joint venture in 1991. The walmart.com and samsclub.com websites followed in 1996, and the Neighborhood Market format in 1998. Here, 1962 identifies Walmart’s retail origins rather than replacing its current legal identity.
Sam Walton and the first Walmart store · Walmart Form 10-K: financial year ended 31 January 2026
Segments, formats and brands
The group reports three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International and Sam’s Club U.S. The first includes Walmart, Neighborhood Market and US e-commerce. Sam’s Club U.S. operates membership warehouse clubs; Sam’s Club operations in other countries belong to the international segment. Great Value, Equate and Member’s Mark are product brands, not independent groups. The FY2026 international perimeter includes businesses such as Flipkart and PhonePe in India and operations in Mexico and Central America. Their figures are already included in the relevant consolidated totals and should not be added again.
How the business works
The retail proposition combines everyday low prices, cost control, purchasing scale and a physical network connected to online orders, pickup and delivery. Alongside product sales, Walmart earns revenue from memberships and services, advertising and activities for marketplace sellers, including fulfilment. Channel integration allows stores and logistics facilities to complement each other. Selling through the marketplace does not automatically make an external merchant or its workforce part of Walmart.
Ownership and current leadership
The shares trade on Nasdaq under WMT. The Walton family retains a substantial interest through its ownership vehicles. The 2026 proxy statement reports 44.11% beneficial ownership for Walton Enterprises at 10 April, including Walton Family Holdings Trust shares over which it exercises voting authority by proxy. The trust’s 6.44% must therefore not be added to that percentage. John Furner has been president and CEO of the group since 1 February 2026, succeeding Doug McMillon; his current role was checked on 8 November.
Walmart Form 10-K: financial year ended 31 January 2026 · Definitive proxy statement 2026: ownership and safety governance · CEO succession announced 14 November 2025 · John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart Inc.
FY2026: revenue and employment
The latest complete financial year ended on 31 January 2026. Consolidated US GAAP accounts report total revenue of USD713,163 million: USD706,413 million in net sales plus USD6,750 million in membership and other income. Operating income was USD29,825 million. FY2026 began on 1 February 2025; international operations other than Canada are generally consolidated with a one-month reporting lag. Approximate year-end employment was 2.1 million people, including part-time workers; this is not a full-time-equivalent figure.
Retail and logistics network
The annual report lists 10,955 retail units: 4,611 Walmart U.S. stores, 601 Sam’s Club U.S. clubs and 5,743 international units. The group describes a retail presence in 19 countries. International counts follow the reporting-date lag explained in the accounts. The network combines owned and leased properties, distribution and fulfilment facilities, transportation and digital platforms. This diversity requires distinguishing the hazards of a public-facing store from those of a warehouse, maintenance workshop or driving role.
Automation: an operating example
In July 2024, Walmart described its perishable-grocery distribution centre in Shafter, California, operating since 2021. The system automates storage, case retrieval and assembly of store-ready pallets. The company explained that work previously centred on manually stacking cases shifts toward operating and maintaining systems. This is a specific change in physical work and required skills. The source also announced expansion elsewhere; that announcement neither establishes transformation of the entire network nor quantifies an injury reduction caused by automation.
OSH: tasks, hazards and responsibilities
The July 2026 ESG report describes task-based hazard assessments and controls involving equipment, procedures and facility design. Common recordable incidents in US operations during FY2026 involved material handling, falls and slips, objects striking people, caught-in or caught-between events, and cuts. Oversight rests with the board’s Audit Committee and management bodies, supported by safety teams across operating formats. This is a company-reported system whose scope should not automatically be extended to every external seller and supplier.
Walmart FY2026 ESG Report, published July 2026 · Walmart Environmental, Health and Safety Statement
Training, controls and follow-up
For US stores and clubs, Walmart reports safety foundations training when associates take a new role, instruction tailored to job risks and specific training for supervisors. In FY2026, more than 98% completed assigned safety training on time. The company also reports more than 32,000 independent third-party site visits during calendar 2025. Findings feed into reviews of procedures, equipment use and corrective actions. These are prevention-activity measures; completing a course or visit does not itself establish that a hazard has been eliminated.
Interpreting the indicators
The report distinguishes recordable incidents and cases involving days away from work through TRIR and LTIR. Its charts cover the United States and separate stores, clubs and logistics; supply-chain figures exclude transportation incidents. Industry comparison data have a one-year lag and are absent for 2025. The document says external assurance was not sought for information other than certain emissions disclosures. Independent visits therefore do not amount to external assurance of every indicator, and these rates do not establish worldwide certification or accident-free operations.
Storage: a documented case
An OSHRC decision dated 8 February 2023 upheld a secure-storage violation at the Johnstown, New York distribution centre following a 2017 injury caused by merchandise falling from a pallet. The decision examined storage stability when contacted by forklifts and knowledge of the hazard. This is a specific case concerning a defined site and period. It provides independent context for examining physical safeguards, but does not automatically describe the facility’s current condition or all Walmart operations.
OSHRC decision on remand, Walmart Inc., No. 17-0949, 8 February 2023
Debate over safety oversight
At the 2026 shareholders’ meeting, Oxfam America proposed a report on oversight of workplace health and safety risks. The board opposed it as duplicative of existing disclosures and disputed its characterisation of Walmart’s practices. The proposal received approximately 6.63% of shares voted and did not pass. This records a shareholder decision; it does not itself determine the quality of prevention or turn either party’s position into an independent finding.
Definitive proxy statement 2026: ownership and safety governance · Shareholders’ meeting voting results, 4 June 2026
Sustainability: progress and separate targets
The FY2026 ESG report records a 24.6% reduction in operational Scope 1 and 2 emissions against FY2016, short of its previous 35% target for FY2026. It introduces a target of 28% reduction by FY2031 against FY2025 and retains the aspiration of zero operational emissions by 2040. The baselines and periods differ: percentages cannot be added and targets should not be presented as achievements. Refrigerant, energy and transport management relate to operations, but environmental indicators do not replace occupational risk assessment.
Walmart FY2026 ESG Report, published July 2026 · Climate resilience, energy and emissions: FY2026 reporting
What the case offers prevention practice
Sabentis Explora’s editorial interpretation is that a network of this scale requires task analysis to be connected to verifiable changes at individual facilities. Automation can alter physical demands and create maintenance, training and interaction-control needs; its effects require assessment. Activity counts, injury rates, regulatory cases and worker or shareholder perspectives offer different evidence. Retaining their scope prevents a local example from becoming a uniform conclusion about millions of people.
Grocery network transformation, 10 July 2024 · Walmart FY2026 ESG Report, published July 2026 · OSHRC decision on remand, Walmart Inc., No. 17-0949, 8 February 2023 · Definitive proxy statement 2026: ownership and safety governance
Frequently asked questions
Are Walmart and Sam’s Club independent groups?
Sam’s Club is part of the Walmart group. Sam’s Club U.S. is a separate reporting segment; clubs elsewhere belong to Walmart International. Their sales should not be added again to group revenue. [1]
Which period do the 2026 figures cover?
The financial year runs from 1 February 2025 to 31 January 2026. International operations other than Canada are generally consolidated with a one-month lag; it is not calendar 2026. [1]
Which workplace prevention measures are documented?
The FY2026 ESG report describes task assessments, role-specific training, supervision and corrective-action follow-up. Shafter documents changes in case handling through automation, without quantifying a causal injury reduction here. [1] · [2]
Do independent visits certify all group safety performance?
No. Site visits assess elements of the programme. The report distinguishes that monitoring from external assurance and limits its injury charts to the United States, with exclusions and reporting lags that must be retained. [1]
