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Notes From Walmart Annual Meeting
Posted on | June 3, 2011 | Comments Off
Overall, the meeting is sort of a joke for serious shareholders. It is more akin to a republican/democrat national convention with musical acts and a lot of empty rhetoric. I’m sure associates that get to travel to the event like it and it promotes loyalty to the company, but for shareholders it is nearly worthless. Will Smith hosted and performing acts included Alicia Keys, Black Eyed Peas and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery.
The one major announcement was that Walmart is announcing a new $15 billion buyback program.
I’ll add another post if anything of interest comes from the shareholder Q&A.
Other random notes that I wrote down while watching/listening:
First Walmart Express store to open in Arkansas this weekend - roughly 15,000 square feet
Sam’s Club comps improve four straight quarters
100 Supercenters to open in US this year
WMT EPS rose $.45 in FY 2011, highest in history
WMT sales $419 billion in FY 2011, a 3.4% increase from year ago
New $15 billion buyback plan, replaces current plan which had approx $2 billion left on it, WMT bought back roughly $13 billion last year alone
Walmart sees 1.5 billion visits a year to web page and has 6 million Facebook fans
China is expected to be largest e-commerce market in 2016
Walmart is largest grocer in the world and is working with farmers on healthier products and local sourcing
CEO Mike Duke on the next generation consumer: “They are connected to the world through smartphones and social media. They are in charge of how they shop and when they shop. And believe me they know who has the lowest prices.”
“Walmart is the best positioned retailer on the globe.” — Duke
Mike Duke did a “high five” when he heard the approval of the Massmart acquisition.