I really think charts that operate in the billions should include all digits vs just the abbreviation. Really fails to capture how absurdly wealthy corpos like Walmart are.
Like maybe it’s just me, but I feel when discussing profits in that level people see ‘oh just 4b? Not that much’ because they only recognize the 4 as a number and not the 4,000,000,000 that it actually is.
In terms of profit per employee, $4.68 billion divided by 2.1 million global employees is $2,229 per employee per quarter, or $8,914 per employee per year. That corresponds to $4.29 per hour for a full time employee.
Whether or not that’s a lot or a little is left as an exercise to the reader.
I think the $33 billion or whatever in “operating expenses” hides a lot of what otherwise would be profit. They have $150 billion in income, and pay $1.4 billion in taxes — less than 1%. Obviously taxes are based on profit, but with so much money coming in and such market dominance, I feel like it would be relatively easy to twist the numbers to avoid more taxes. The Waltons certainly aren’t beyond the impulse to do so, and where there’s a will for the powerful, there’s a way.
That only comes out to a 4.29% profit margin. I thought it would be a bit higher.
dividends? is that an op expense?
Damn 124 billion in inventory to get 4 billion looks small.
Infuriating how a 165.6 BILLION dollar company only pays .85% in taxes. POINT 85!
And here I am paying 30% or more.
And don’t get me started on how Cost of Sales is factored in – I have a cost that factors into my ability to earn as well. Can I deduct my car, house, clothes, food? Nope.
Everyday low costs for everyday low prices, baby
God damn, we’re already in 2026?!
The takeaway here should be that WalMart is down 9% YOY. This is a huge economic indicator.
I don’t see “not paying employees a living wage or benefits” as part of the profit margin
What would be “other losses”?
I’ve recently learned about how airlines in the US are essentially acting as central banks for their own currencies through their loyalty programs (credits to the amazing work of Wendover Productions). This scheme through which a company controls the availability, cost, and selling time of the loyalty points seems to make it almost impossible to loose money.
The scheme really sounds brilliant, so I’m wondering whether Walmart (largest retailer in the world) is going for a similar strategy through their Sam’s Club division. I’ve never had a Sam’s Club membership, but it seems to me they mainly offer cash back or lower prices rather than loyalty points.
Even then, I think it will be interesting to see how big of a chunk of Walmart’s revenue will come from Sam’s Club in the future. I bet it’s a rising trend….
How did their tax due go down 22%?
Walmart doesn’t make billions, it steals billions. From you. It pays it’s employees so little, that they received $6.2 Billion in public assistance in 2014.
![[OC] How Walmart made its latest Billions](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/p8zdzulrey0f1-1920x1024.png)
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Source: [Walmart investor relations](https://stock.walmart.com/_assets/_6c0ff6dc9ab2f980ebc9e5ba359c5643/walmart/db/938/9953/earnings_release/Earnings+Release+%28FY26+Q1%29.pdf)
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I really think charts that operate in the billions should include all digits vs just the abbreviation. Really fails to capture how absurdly wealthy corpos like Walmart are.
Like maybe it’s just me, but I feel when discussing profits in that level people see ‘oh just 4b? Not that much’ because they only recognize the 4 as a number and not the 4,000,000,000 that it actually is.
In terms of profit per employee, $4.68 billion divided by 2.1 million global employees is $2,229 per employee per quarter, or $8,914 per employee per year. That corresponds to $4.29 per hour for a full time employee.
Whether or not that’s a lot or a little is left as an exercise to the reader.
I think the $33 billion or whatever in “operating expenses” hides a lot of what otherwise would be profit. They have $150 billion in income, and pay $1.4 billion in taxes — less than 1%. Obviously taxes are based on profit, but with so much money coming in and such market dominance, I feel like it would be relatively easy to twist the numbers to avoid more taxes. The Waltons certainly aren’t beyond the impulse to do so, and where there’s a will for the powerful, there’s a way.
That only comes out to a 4.29% profit margin. I thought it would be a bit higher.
dividends? is that an op expense?
Damn 124 billion in inventory to get 4 billion looks small.
Infuriating how a 165.6 BILLION dollar company only pays .85% in taxes. POINT 85!
And here I am paying 30% or more.
And don’t get me started on how Cost of Sales is factored in – I have a cost that factors into my ability to earn as well. Can I deduct my car, house, clothes, food? Nope.
Everyday low costs for everyday low prices, baby
God damn, we’re already in 2026?!
The takeaway here should be that WalMart is down 9% YOY. This is a huge economic indicator.
I don’t see “not paying employees a living wage or benefits” as part of the profit margin
What would be “other losses”?
I’ve recently learned about how airlines in the US are essentially acting as central banks for their own currencies through their loyalty programs (credits to the amazing work of Wendover Productions). This scheme through which a company controls the availability, cost, and selling time of the loyalty points seems to make it almost impossible to loose money.
The scheme really sounds brilliant, so I’m wondering whether Walmart (largest retailer in the world) is going for a similar strategy through their Sam’s Club division. I’ve never had a Sam’s Club membership, but it seems to me they mainly offer cash back or lower prices rather than loyalty points.
Even then, I think it will be interesting to see how big of a chunk of Walmart’s revenue will come from Sam’s Club in the future. I bet it’s a rising trend….
How did their tax due go down 22%?
Walmart doesn’t make billions, it steals billions. From you. It pays it’s employees so little, that they received $6.2 Billion in public assistance in 2014.
https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp019s161887r
They pay less then 1 percent taxes… that’s fine.
Can you break down worker exploitation as an expense?
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