Earlier we discussed the failure of the Gucci Empire for not planning for their brand and business succession, but When it comes to the storytelling of running a family business we should uncover our eyes on Walmart and Sam Walton’s succession plan and how they left a legacy for many years till now.
The Waltons, who own Walmart Inc., are the world’s wealthiest business family. Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton, began planning the company’s succession plan four decades before his death.
He delegated 80% of the business to his four children, Alice, Jim, Robson, and John, preventing the empire from collapsing.
Through Walton Enterprises and other Walton trusts, the Walton family owns 47% of Walmart.
Every week, approximately 220 million customers and members visit about 10,500 stores under 48 banners in 24 countries and websites. Walmart earned $559 billion in revenue in the fiscal year 2021. It employs over 2.3 million associates worldwide.
On Friday (June 6), the world got a glimpse into Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s future board leadership when longtime chairman Rob Walton announced Greg Penner, his son-in-law, had been chosen to fill the new position of vice chairman.
Penner, 44, has been a company director since 2008 and was re-elected along with the slate of 14 directors at the annual meeting in Fayetteville on Friday.
“Long-term succession planning is one of the board’s most important responsibilities, and the company spends considerable time planning for stability and continuity, both at the board and management level,” said Walton, 69, who will remain chairman of the company his parents founded 60 years ago.
Walton announced that the proposal to appoint an independent board chairman had failed. Two shareholder proposals requesting lobbying disclosure also failed, and a report on executive pay recoupment did not receive the number of votes required for adoption.
The Walton Family holds approximately 51% of the voting power in Wal-Mart Stores. The Wal-Mart board of directors is made up of nine independent directors with a wide range of expertise.
Penner, according to Walton, brings extensive technology and international business experience to Wal-Board Mart of Directors. Since 2005, he has served as a general partner at the investment management firm Madrone Capital Partners. From 2002 to 2005, he worked for Walmart International as senior vice president and chief financial officer for Japan. Before that, he was
Walmart.com’s senior vice president of finance and strategy. Penner also worked for Goldman Sachs & Co. as a financial analyst.
Wal-Mart has always strived to maintain high corporate governance standards, according to the company. In keeping with this goal, and unlike most other Fortune 100 companies, the board decided to separate the roles of chairman and CEO in 1988.
Furthermore, the company stated that it has implemented several corporate governance measures to ensure that the board acts independently of management.
Following such an optimum succession plan made the story never come to an end till our very nowadays but made the equity of Walmart Inc. rise from one day to another.