Wal-Mart Warns Wall Street That Its Profits Will Fall; Shares Plummet
Wal-Mart delivered a disappointing message to Wall Street on Wednesday: Sales will remain sluggish, and profit will be hampered next year by efforts to raise workers’ salaries and improve e-commerce capabilities. The mega-retailer’s stock plunged 10 percent on the news, wiping out about $20 billion in market value. The lackluster forecasts underscore the problems that have dogged Wal-Mart in recent years: It has scrambled to catch up...
Wal-Mart Does About Face on Manufacturing
Bentonville, Ark. — The group cheer at Wal-Mart’s third annual U.S. manufacturing summit — convened to find more American-made products — was greeted with a voice from another era. “Almost anything can be made by Americans, in this country, and be done efficiently,” founder Sam Walton said in a grainy black-and-white video clip from the 1980s, explaining Wal-Mart’s mission to buy more products at home. Ultimately, Walton failed....
Report: Wal-Mart Evades Taxes
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. owns more than $76 billion of assets through a web of units in offshore tax havens around the world, though you wouldn’t know it from reading the giant retailer’s annual report. A new study has found Wal-Mart has at least 78 offshore subsidiaries and branches, more than 30 created since 2009 and none mentioned in U.S. securities filings. Overseas operations have helped the company cut more than $3.5 billion off...
