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The ultra rich family, the Walton family!
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We all know Wal-Mart supermarket,
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but we barely know the richest family in the world.
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Their assets are more than the sum of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates,
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which are even more than the sum of the Singaporean GDP in 2006.
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Hello everyone, I'm Dodo, who is handsome but conquers the world with my wisdom.
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Today, I'm going to talk about the legendary family, Walton family.
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Thank you for the support!
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As the biggest retailer in the United States,
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Wal-Mart not only contributes billions of dollars to the U.S. government each year
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but also provides more than 1 million jobs for the U.S.
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Today, Wal-Mart employs as many as 2.2 million people worldwide.
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Wal-Mart was founded by Sam Walton of the Walton family
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The Walton family holds 48% of the shares of Wal-Mart.
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The total assets of the family amounted to 191 billion U.S. dollars,
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with the increase of 39 billion U.S. dollars a year,
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which is equivalent to an average increase of 4.45 million U.S. dollars per hour for this family,
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In other words, every hour you can buy 12 Himalaya Birkin, which is worth $380,000 in the auction.
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The Walton family can buy two Gulfstream G550 private jets per day, which is worth $49 million each.
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Although the Walton family is rich, they still keep a low profile.
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Sam Walton drives a broken truck, which is missing two hubcaps, to work.
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His office is not so big,
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which is just a small room filled with documents.
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His outfits are always the business attire.
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During his leisure time, he wears polo shirts and plaid shirts.
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At first glance, he doesn't look rich at all.
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He is more like from a middle-class family.
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After the end of World War II,
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Sam Walton returned to his hometown and rented a few houses with his wife Helen,
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and opened a small store, only selling 5-10 cents goods.
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Because Sam was nice to everyone,
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the neighbours were willing to shop in his store.
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In 1950, Sam and his wife sold the store for twice the amount of their investment.
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They moved to Bentonville, Arkansas, where they opened a new store.
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Although the new store was a franchise of the chain store,
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the Waltons named it after the family name:
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The Walton Family Store.
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By 1962, they had 15 department stores under their name.
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That same year,
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Sam and his brother James
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opened the first store entirely of their own, Wal-Mart, in Rogers City, Arkansas.
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In the United States, Wal-Mart prioritized small and medium-sized cities, large villages and towns.
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The business mode was consistent:
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low margins, low stocks, buying in large quantities,
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focusing more on costs and using information tools actively.
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Until Sam's death in 1992,
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he left the Walton family a huge family fortune -
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735 Wal-Mart stores with an annual turnover of $43.8 billion.
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He gave 20% of this fortune to each child and left the rest to his wife.
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The second generation of chairman at Wal-Mart was Sam's eldest son, Robson Walton.
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Almost everyone thought that Wal-Mart was about to decline,
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and the soul of the company would change.
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However, with the experience learning from his father for decades,
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Robson was the most knowledgeable chairman in American business.
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During Robson managing the company for more than 20 years,
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Wal-Mart's net sales grew by more than $400 billion.
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the total profits grew by more than $22 billion,
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the amount of stores grew from 1,700 to 4,400,
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the amount of employees grew nearly 4 times,
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and the annual sales increased 5 times.
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And in 2015,
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the Walton family selected Greg Penner, Robson's son-in-law,
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as the third generation of chairman to Walmart Inc.
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Penner was experienced in e-commerce, finance, and retailing.
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He provided the most powerful boost to Walmart, which was in the process of upgrading at the time.
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Wal-Mart's success has long been credited with its excellent distribution capabilities with high technology
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and the feature of daily affordable prices.
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However, Robert Slater, author of "Wal-Mart Decade", believes that
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why Wal-Mart can continue its glory
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and maintain a high growth rate of the five-fold increase in turnover in ten years
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after the death of its founder Sam Walton
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is entirely due to the successful transmission of its corporate culture
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and business philosophy among successive leaders.
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The leading team, consisting of both family members and professional managers,
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has maintained a balance between Sam Walton's strong management legacy
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and the various strong needs of modern business.
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As for the great wealth of the Walton family keeping growing,
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it's not only thanks to Sam's shrewd business instinct,
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but also due to his outstanding vision.
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The family did not pay taxes when they received their inheritance after his death.
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It is mainly because Sam used the family's shares in Wal-Mart to set up a family joint venture
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to avoid most of the inheritance taxes.
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When Wal-Mart was far from a large company,
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the Sams set up an equity trust
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to give their four children the shares (each corresponding to 20% of Wal-Mart) in advance
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in order to avoid huge inheritance taxes.
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Likewise, Sam's second son, John Walton,
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arranged his inheritance in advance.
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When he died in an accident in 2005,
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his early arrangement helped avoid the huge inheritance taxes directly.
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It can be said that the Walton family was very far-sighted in their wealth succession arrangements.
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In addition to the legacy of wealth,
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the Walton family has also maintained the family tradition of frugality.
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Sam Walton never bought a mansion throughout his life.
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He always lived in the small town of Bentonville,
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even after he became the richest man in the world.
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He only sat in the economy class during the business trip.
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Sam's four children began to help their father work since they were kids.
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They were doing odd jobs in the store.
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In the daytime, they were kneeling on the floor and mopping.
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At night, they helped unload the shelves.
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Their income was calculated based on the income of ordinary workers.
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Their pocket money all relied on their own labor.
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The unique family education cultivated children
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the awareness that "if you want to spend money, you have to learn to earn it".
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This kind of belief in life has created and nourished an excellent corporate culture.
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The key of the legacy of the family business is the inheritance of the business values.
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It can be said that the reality of the Walton family's wealth myth tells us that
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it is far more important to pass on the spirit than the wealth.
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Alright.
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That's all about the Walton family.
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If you have your own opinions,
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please feel free to leave them in the comment section.
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please subscribe, give me a like, and share it with your friends.
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I will see you in the next video~
