Corporate History Summary

Company: WAL MART STORES INC

Date	Headline
04/22/1999	WORLD'S NUMBER 1 RETAILER
08/25/1998	Wal-Mart's Corporate History...

Date: 04/22/1999 WORLD'S NUMBER 1 RETAILER

When Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in 1962, it was the beginning of an American success story that no one could have predicted. A small town merchant who had operated variety stores in Arkansas and Missouri, Walton was convinced that consumers would flock to a discount store with a wide array of merchandise and friendly service.

Although Wal-Mart was incorporated in October 1969, the businesses conducted by its predecessors began in 1945 when Sam M. Walton opened a franchise Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. In 1946, James L. Walton, the brother of Sam Walton opened a similar store in Versailles, Missouri.

By 1962 Sam Walton and his brother Bud had 15 Walton owned 5&10 stores in operation in Arkansas and Missouri. In 1962, the company’s business deviated from its exclusively variety store operation as the first Wal- Mart Discount City, a discount store was opened in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1969 when the Company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the Walton brothers were operating 18 Wal-Marts and 15 Ben Franklins in Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. In 1979 the Walton’s phased out the Ben Franklin stores and were operating 276 Wal-Mart stores in 11 states – mostly in towns of less than 25,000 population. Sales had grown from $44 million in 1970 to $1.25 billion in 1979.

In 1983, the first SAM’s Club was opened in Midwest City, OK. SAM’s Club is one of the nation’s leading members-only warehouse club operating as a supplier of name-brand merchandise at warehouse prices for office use, resale to customers or for personal use. SAM’s Club offers a merchandise mix of 3,500 items which include a complete line of food products and frozen foods; janitorial products; tires, batteries, and auto supplies; small building equipment and hardware; candy and snack items; and office supplies, computers and equipment. Merchandise is typically in larger institutional sizes or multi-packs of like or assorted items.

In 1988, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter was opened which was located in Washington, MO. This concept provides one-stop shopping combining a full line of groceries and a general merchandise department store under one roof. Supercenters feature 36 general merchandise departments including a complete apparel department with accessories, an extensive fine jewelry department, a lawn and garden center, a large health and beauty aids department, a full line of electronics and a pharmacy department. Additionally, grocery areas generally feature a bakery, delicatessen, frozen food section and meat and dairy and fresh produce departments. The centers also can include Wal-Mart Specialty Shops such as the Vision Center, Tire & Lube Express and One-Hour Photo Processing.

In 1991, the company began its first international initiative when it entered into a joint venture where it had 50% interest with Cifra. On September 1, 1997, a merger of the Mexican joint ventures owned by the company and Cifra with and into Cifra was consummated. The company received 33.5% of outstanding voting shares of Cifra in exchange for the joint venture interests. The company also acquired 593 million shares of the Series A common shares and Series B common shares of Cifra in a cash tender offer resulting in the company holding approximately 51% of the outstanding voting shares of Cifra.

On December 30, 1997, the company acquired Wertkauf hypermarket chain in Germany. Through the acquisition, the company gained 21 stores that were set up as one-stop shopping centers offering a broad assortment of high quality general merchandise and food similar to the Wal-Mart Supercenter format.

In 1998, the Company took possession of 74 units from the Interspar hypermarket chain in Germany. The units were acquired from Spar wholesale operations throughout German. Also in 1998, the Company extended its presence in Asia with an investment in Korea. The Company acquired a majority interest in four existing units as well as six underdeveloped sites. Korea Makro previously operated the four acquired units.

Domestically, at January 31, 1999, the Company operated 1,869 discount stores and 564 Supercenters, and 451 SAM’s Clubs. Internationally, at January 31, 1999, the Company operated units in Argentina (13), Brazil (14), Canada (154), Germany (95), Mexico (416), and Puerto Rico (15), and, under joint venture agreements, in China (5) and Korea (4).

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