Sam Walton opened his first discount variety store in Bentonville, Ark., in 1962 and turned it into a retail empire by buying up low-cost goods and selling them at lower prices than his competitors. Today, Walmart operates more than 10,500 stores in 19 countries and Walton’s heirs are worth $513.4 billion. There are now three Waltons — Jim, Rob and Alice — who are worth more than $100 billion each, and their wealth stems from the Walmart shares given to them by their father. They each own more than 11% of the $648 billion company through a family trust, and have each collected more than $15 billion from stock sales and dividends over the years. The trio of Waltons have each added about $30 billion to their net worth this year, thanks to Walmart stock surging around 54% since the start of January.
