Walmart’s world
We know you know Walmart is big, but it’s hard to overstate just how big America’s largest retailer actually is. In addition to selling the most stuff and employing the most people of any private employer, Walmart's physical footprint is unmatched, with enough floor space in stores in the US alone to fit some 12,500 football fields.
On the topic of employment, Walmart’s roster is nothing short of an army, employing approximately 1.6 million “associates” just in the US — more than the 1.4 million people that call Hawaii home — enough to make it the 41st most-populous state in the country.
Ka-ching
In its most recent fiscal year, Walmart sold $606 billion worth of stuff, which is a number so big it’s almost meaningless on its own. $606 billion is more than the annual output of most countries on Earth. Not some countries, most countries. Indeed, were it a sovereign nation, Walmart’s revenue would be enough to rank around 27th in the world, more than the GDP of Sweden, Singapore, New Zealand and Norway (with all of its oil riches).
That shakes out to around $69m an hour, and it means that since you started reading this newsletter (which we’re assuming was about a minute ago if you haven’t skimmed too much), Walmart has sold ~$1.15m worth of merchandise.
