01/2012009 TUE 14:45 PA.1 502 569 1270 Proquest 1 Xanedu
01/2012009 TUE 14:45 PA.1 502 569 1270 ProQuest 1 XanEdu Wa1"Mart Stores, Inc. In Forbes magazine's annual ranking of the richest Americans, the heirs of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal'Mart Stores, h.,held spots five through nine in 1993 with 9.5 billion each. Sam Walton, who died in April 1992, had built Wal*Mart into a phenomenal succ~,with a 20-par avenge return on equity of 3376, and compound average sale growth of 35%. At the end of 1993, WalSMart had a market value of $57.5 billion, and its sales pcr square foot were nearly ROO, compard with the industry average of $210. It was widely believed that WalDMart had revolutionized many aspedv of retailing, and it was wcll known for its heavy investment in information technology. David Class and Don Soderquist faced the Merge of following in Sam Walton's footsteps. Glass and SoderquLt, CEO and COO, had been running thc company since February 1988, when Walton, retaining tlic chairmanship, turned the job of CEO over to Glass. Their record spoke for itself-the company went from sales of $16 billion in 1987 to $67 billion in 1993, with earnings nearly quadrupling from $628 million to $23 billion. At the beginning of 1994, the company operated 1,953 Wal*Mart stores (mduding 68 supercenters), 419 warehouse clubs (Sam's Clubs), 81 warehouse outlcts (Bud's), and four hypermarkets. During 1994 WaleMart plmed to open 110 new WalDMxt stores, including 5 suprcenters, and 20 Sam's Clubs, and to expand or relocate approximately 70 of the older Wal*Mart stores (6of which would bc made into supercenters), and 5 Sam's Clubs.
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