10 Amazing Facts about Retail Giant Walmart
#4. Walmart Critics Were Not “Happy” That Pharrell Williams Performed at the 2014 Walmart Shareholders Meeting
Pharrell Williams has courted controversy after performing his chart-topping hit Happy at Walmart's annual shareholders meeting. The upbeat song, has been criticized as a jarring choice given the sustained attacks against Walmart over the low-wage conditions of some of its employees. At the end of his performance, in front of 14,000 Walmart workers and shareholders in Arkansas, Williams invited attendees to "put your hands together for Walmart guys, for making the world a happier place".
Recently, Walmart has been the subject of a resumed wave of criticism centered on disclosure that many of its employees are forced to rely on food stamps and other government subsidies to supplement their income. Williams has faced a storm of social media from a large number of people.
#3. In 2000, Walmart Was Sued 4,851 Times, Which Is An Average of More Than 13 Lawsuits Each Day
In 2000, Walmart was sued 4,851 times or about once every 2 hours. Furthermore, in that year, juries decided a Walmart case about six times on each business day, with 9,400 cases overall caused at the end of that year. And what was the litigants’ batting average in terms of favorable decisions. Instead of quickly settling the cases to lessen costs, Walmart aggressively defended the cases filed against them and saw both a greater number of cases being won and a lower number of cases being filed against them.
#2. Walmart Is “Making an Effort” to Bring Manufacturing Back to the US
In 1985, Walmart began the “Buy America” program supposedly to help create jobs in the United States, after Walmart’s outsourcing to China the manufacturing in the United States subsided to an extent. The Economic Policy Institute revealed that Walmart’s imports helped destroy 200,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs and helped China become a world power. Thus, the “Buy America” program named Walmart as a patriotic company. However, in 1992, Dateline aired a program that indicated that the “Buy America” program was more an advertising trick than a realistic plan, with imported clothing being displayed as domestic merchandise.
In 2013, Walmart once again launched a “Buy America” program, this time with a strong commitment to purchase an additional $50 billion worth of domestic products over the next decade. The jury is still out on the second version of the lead, but critics are already pointing out how the program is unlikely to result in actual U.S. production and jobs.
#1. Walmart Is Among the Most Charitable Companies in the United States
The Walton family has given away about 2 percent of its net worth to charity, that percentage is significantly far off from that of Bill Gates who has given away 48 percent of his net worth and Warren Buffet who has given away 78 percent of his net worth. From 2006 to 2012, Walmart was named the single largest giver in corporate America, however, in 2013, Walmart was replaced his number one position by Wells Fargo, which donated more than $300 million in 2012. Walmart’s charitable contributions are incredibly hefty with more than $311 million in cash and more than $755 million in products being donated.
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