The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
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Walmart spent $24 million in 1987 to build a private satellite network
“So, they invested twenty-four million dollars to link all stores with a two-way voice and data transmission and a one-way video communication from Bentonville. And basically, there was not enough bandwidth available on any other communication lines.”
Walmart operates at 24% gross margins, between Costco's 13% and Target's 30%
“If you look at Walmart's twenty-four-ish percent gross margin, so that's basically what they get from the goods that they sell on the shelf, you see, ok, it's less than Target, which makes 29 30% of anything that they sell on the shelf. Well, Costco's gross pr…”
Gilbert: Walmart's Revenue Growth Slowed to ~3% Annually Since 2013
“If we look back, all the way back to, let's see, 1982, They were growing about 40 to 50% a year, and that has basically been on a slow, steady decline all the way until about 20 13, where it's been about flat at three percent since then.”
Walmart operates 10,500 stores and serves 230 million customers weekly
“There's 10,500 stores. Each week, two hundred and thirty million customers visit one of these stores.”
Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue at nearly $600B
“It is the largest by revenue in the world, doing nearly six hundred billion dollars a year in sales.”
Rosenthal: Walmart Bought a 77% Stake in Flipkart for Over $16B in 2018
“Walmart bought 77%, I think, stake in Flipkart back in I think it was 2018 for over sixteen billion dollars”
90% of the US population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart
“Today, 90% of America lives within 10 miles of a Walmart, but there are three places where that is not true, and a fourth kind of where it's technically true but not in spirit.”
In 1967, Kmart generated $800 million compared to Walmart's $10 million
“By like 1967 ish Kmart has 250 stores all across the country doing eight hundred million dollars in sales. And the new Walmart concept, Walmart revenue was still only around ten million dollars at that point in time”
Walmart is the largest non-governmental employer with 2.3 million workers
“It is the world's largest employer, other than public entities like governments employing nearly 2.3 million people around the world.”
E-commerce accounts for roughly 13% of Walmart's total revenue, around $75 billion
“Only about 13% of Walmart's revenue comes from e-commerce. Now, that's seventy-five billion dollars.”
Gilbert: Walmart operates at 20-24% gross margins vs 33%+ historically
“Walmart probably has a gross margin between 20 and 24% at any given time, and every store had like a 33% gross margin. Even the, like, Target is sort of like a high-end discounter. It's sort of like a nicer stuff, more expensive. They're in the 29% category, b…”
Walmart compounded revenue at 40% in the 1970s and 32% in 1980s
“So Walmart's compound annual revenue growth rate for the whole decade of the 19 seventies was 40.1%, four 0.1% for the whole decade. And then in the 19 eighties, it was 32.4%.”