Walton, Sam

Sam Walton was born March 29, 1918 in the city of Kingfisher ( Oklahoma ) in a family of farmers Thomas Gibson Walton and Nan Walton. In 1923, at the age of five, he moved to the city of Springfield ( Missouri ), where he began to go to school.

During the Great Depression, Sam Walton took part in the family-owned milk trading business, his responsibilities included milking cows and delivering milk to customers.

At the age of seven, Sam Walton begins to sell a magazine subscription, and from the seventh grade until the end of his studies in college, he has been delivering newspapers to his home. Also during his studies, Walton grows rabbits and pigeons for sale.

The family later relocates to the small town of Marshall , Missouri , where Sam has been elected the headman for several years in a row. Joining the ranks of the Boy Scouts in Marcella, Sam bets with the other boys over which of them will be the first to receive an Eagle degree. At thirteen, Sam Walton becomes the youngest Eagle in the history of the scout movement in Missouri at the time.

From the Shelbina Democrat Newspaper Summer of 1932 :

Further, the Walton live in Selbin, Missouri , where Sam enters high school, and later in Columbia ( Missouri ). There Walton graduates from Hickman High School. At the end, Sam enters the list of best students. He becomes the chairman of the student council of self-government and actively participates in the work of many interest clubs, in particular, in the oratory, and is elected the Most Versatile Boy.

Then Sam enters the University of Missouri , where he is accepted as a member of the best student society , who has been leading the university athletic league for many years. In their second year, members of elected Sam Walton to be the forerunner in recruiting new staff. At this time, Sam sets himself the goal of becoming president of the university student council of self-government. He was elected president of the honorary undergraduate society, member of the board of the student association and senior president, he was captain and president of Knife and Blade, an elite military organization for the US Reserve Officer Training Service.

Shortly before graduating from college, Sam receives a job offer from JC Penney and moves to Des Moines, Iowa on July 3, 1940, and takes up the position of trainee manager at a retail store with a salary of $ 75 per month.

By the beginning of 1942, Sam quit JC Penney and went to the south of Tulsa, where he met his future wife Helen Robson .

Shortly after meeting, in 1942, Sam was drafted into the US Army, but due to heart problems, he was not allowed to fight, and with the rank of lieutenant and then captain, Sam was in charge of security at the aircraft factory and in prisoner of war camps California and across the country.

About a year after the call, on February 14, 1943, Sam Walton and Helen Robson got married, this happened in the town of Clairmore , Oklahoma .

After the war ended, the Walton decided to go into retail. Sam rented a $ 25,000 store in Newport , Arkansas . The population of the city at that time was 7,000 people. Helen's father lent spouses $ 20,000 to buy the store. The store operated under the Ben Franklin franchise owned by Butler Brothers. The store began operating on September 1, 1945 . Under the previous owner, the store brought in $ 72,000 in revenue for the year. In his first year of work, Walton received revenue of $ 105,000, in his second year of work - $ 140,000, and in his third year of work - $ 175,000.

In his first store in Newport, Sam Walton began to develop technologies that later brought Wal-Mart success: selling goods at low prices, purchasing goods at low prices directly from the manufacturer, not from intermediaries, extending the store’s opening hours on holidays, etc. d.

In his fifth year of operation, Walton’s store became the Ben Franklin sales leader in six states. The success of the store attracted attention, and the owner of the premises did not renew the lease, handing over the premises to his son.

In the spring of 1950, the Walton family moved to the town of Bentonville (Arkansas) . The Walton family already had four children: Bob, John, Jim and the girl Alice. The population of Bentonville was 3,000. Helen Walton considered cities with a population of 10 thousand people too large.

In Bentonville, Walton opened his store called Walton's Five and Dime. In the first year, the store’s revenue was $ 32,000. In 1952, Walton opened another store in Fayetteville . By 1962, Walton, along with his younger brother Bud, opened 16 stores in the states of Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas . Walton begins to attract store directors as partners, allowing them to invest their own funds in stores. Between the shops, Walton moved on an airplane, which he himself controlled.

The first Wal-Mart store opened July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton was already 44 years old. The name Wal-Mart was chosen because of the small number of letters - so signs were cheaper.

By 1979, the number of Wal-Mart stores had grown to 230, and their annual revenue exceeded $ 1 billion.

Over time, Wal-Mart became the largest chain of stores in the United States . From 1985 to 1988 Forbes magazine called Sam Walton the richest man in the United States. Bill Gates was named the richest man in the United States in 1992 , that is, after the death of Sam. Sam and Helen Walton provided financial assistance to educational, religious and community organizations. Funded the construction of zoos, libraries, sports facilities.

Sam Walton died on April 5, 1992 from myeloma . Forbes magazine estimated Walton's fortune in 1992 at $ 58.6 billion.

Sam Walton bequeathed his share in the company to his wife and four children ( Rob , John , Jim and Alice ). Rob Walton became chairman of Wal-Mart. John was the director of the company until his death, in 2005 he died in a car accident. Jim founded Arvest Bank, which he still owns, assets of a financial institution - $ 17 billion. Rob and Alice are on the board of the Walton Family Foundation. The Walton family occupied five places in the top ten richest people in the United States until 2005.

• Presidential Medal of Freedom , 1992

• Sam Walton. Made in America. How I Created Wal-Mart = Made in America: My Story. - M .: “Alpina Publisher” , 2011. - 224 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-1123-2 .
• Sam Walton, John Huey. Sam Walton: Made In America. - Bantam, 1993 .-- 368 p. - ISBN 978-0553562835 .