Who Actually Holds Walmart’s Wealth?

Who has the wealth of wealthy stockholders? The question seems absurd: the stockholders have it, of course.

But I’m not asking who owns the stock; I’m asking who has the wealth? There is a difference. And the difference matters because many good people condemn the free market system on the mistaken belief that the wealth of the wealthy benefits only the wealthy.

One such well-meaning but mistaken person is Amy Traub, Associate Director of Policy and Research at Demos, an equality-focused public policy organization. Here follow excerpts from her arguments against the motion in a recent Intelligence2 US debate on the topic, “Long Live Walmart.” Note the drumbeat on profits to the wealthy, and the implication that that wealth is held by the wealthy alone:

(13:30): The company pays its workers poverty wages. It offers few benefits and it manipulates workers’ hours and understaffs its stores. That low wage business model serves one purpose. It’s so the company can maximize profits that go to some of the wealthiest people on the planet. There’s a growing gap in our country between the wealthiest few and everyone else.

(15:22): And those profits widen the gap between the wealthiest few in our country and everyone else, pulling our economy further out of balance.

I want to take a step back now and look at the other half of the inequality equation. Where do Walmart’s profits go? Walmart netted $15 billion last year. Sam Walton’s heirs still own about half of Walmart. These six billionaires are some of the wealthiest people in the world. So, on the one hand, the Walton heirs have inherited wealth that expands each year as the company pays dividends. On the other hand, the workers, like Emma Raid, who help generate that wealth, worry about holding onto the car that gets them to work every day.

(17:27) Walmart’s business model isn’t worthy of a long life. It’s a prime example of the inequality that keeps working people living on the edge of poverty – a business model that has funneled profits to the ultra-wealthy, and a model that undercuts the fundamental promise of our country that hard work should pay off.