Walmart joins the trillion-dollar club, becoming only the third non-tech American firm to do so
Shares have surged on rapid e-commerce growth, digital advertising, and new AI partnerships. Maybe Walmart isn’t that “offline” after all.
Walmart’s market capitalization crossed the $1 trillion mark for the first time on Tuesday, becoming the first retailer ever to reach the milestone — joining a club dominated by Big Tech.
One short of a dozen
So far, only 11 US companies have ever reached the four-comma club.
Tech behemoths such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and Alphabet crossed the threshold years ago and have since raced far beyond it, now competing in the over $4 trillion range. Nevertheless, it’s still a remarkable achievement for the 63-year-old retail giant, which joins just two other non-tech firms that have ever reached $1 trillion — Berkshire Hathaway and Eli Lilly, though the latter has since slipped back below the milestone.
After very little growth from 2000 to 2010, Walmart’s stock has been on a pretty relentless run for much of the last decade, a rally that has accelerated recently, with the stock up roughly 15% year to date and about 28% over the past year, far outperforming the S&P 500 and pulling ahead of major retail rivals including Amazon, Costco, and Target.
The rally reflects Walmart’s recent success in pulling in both price-sensitive shoppers and higher-income consumers, a thriving high-margin advertising business, and the expansion of its e-commerce business and same-day delivery, which now reaches 95% of US households. Recent AI partnerships with Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, along with Walmart’s addition to the Nasdaq 100 Index, have only helped improve sentiment on the stock.
The milestone comes amid a leadership transition, with John Furner taking over as CEO on February 1, succeeding longtime veteran Doug McMillon. Walmart is set to report fourth-quarter earnings later this month.
