Sam Walton started Walmart Inc., and his youngest son is Jim Walton. From 2005 to 2016, he was on Walmart’s board. Now, he is the chair of the Arvest Bank Group.
Jim Walton will have a net worth of $61.3 billion in 2023 because he owns Walmart.
Early Years and School
He was born in Newport, Arkansas, on June 7, 1948. Mr. Jim Walton is the third and youngest son of Sam Walton, who started Walmart. He got his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Arkansas in 1971. Before joining the family business in 1972, he traveled extensively and got his pilot’s license.
Lots of Walmart
Sam Walton opened Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962 as a small, cheap store. Walmart has been a publicly traded company since 1970 and has more than 11,000 shops in the US and other countries. As of 2022, almost 1.6 million people in the United States worked for Walmart.
In 2021, the Waltons’ reported net worth of $238 billion made them the wealthiest family in the world. Together, Jim Walton and the other children and grandchildren of Sam Walton own half of all Walmart stock.
When Jim Walton joined Walmart in 1972, he worked in the real estate operations department. He went to Walton Enterprises, the family business, in 1975 and was president there for a short time. Because Jim Walton liked banking, he went to work for his family’s business, Arvest Bank Group, where he still works today.
He returned to Walmart while still employed at Arvest to fill the board position that had been vacant since his brother John’s passing in 2005.
The Arvest Bank Group
Arvest Bank Group is a Walton-owned regional bank that runs more than 260 banks in more than 100 Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma towns. Jim Walton is the bank’s chairman and CEO.
The Walton family bought the Bank of Bentonville in 1961, the Bank of Pea Ridge in 1963, and the First National Bank & Trust Company in 1975. This is how Arvest came to be. It grew when Arvest bought 29 Bank of America branches in the area in 2013. The Arvest Bank Group had over $20 billion in assets as of 2022. It was the biggest bank in Arkansas regarding savings and one of the biggest in Oklahoma regarding stores.
Giving to others
There are family-run organizations called the Walton Family Foundation, and Jim Walton has given a lot of money to them. Three generations of Sam and Helen Walton’s children and grandchildren work to improve K–12 education, protect rivers and seas and the towns they support and put money into Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas–Mississippi Delta. The foundation gave out $749.9 million in funds in 2020 to help us reach our goals.
Which generations of the Walton family are in charge at Walmart, Inc.?
Along with people from the second generation, Jim Walton’s son, Steuart Walton, was chosen for the board. He is the first person from the third generation to join the company’s leadership in 2016.
Why does Jim Walton care about charter schools?
Through the Walton Family Foundation, Jim and his sister Alice have led the creation of the Charter Impact Fund, a project that will give long-term loans with set rates to charter schools across the country that do a good job.
Who or what is Community Publishers Inc.?
Since its start in 1982 as a community newspaper and business printer for Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma publications, Community Publishers Inc. had Jim Walton as its chairman. When his dad, Sam Walton, bought the Benton County Daily Record, Jim Walton used CPI to make it more well-known until Berkshire Hathaway bought it in 2015.
In Short
As the youngest son of Sam Walton, the father of Walmart, Jim Walton has worked for his family business for many years. He is the head of the Walton Family Foundation and acts as chair of the family’s Arvest Bank Group.
Conclusion
- Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton, who started Walmart.
- After his brother John died in 2005, he served on Walmart’s board of directors until 2016.
- He is the head of Arvest Bank Group.
- His son became the first member of the third generation of Waltons to join the board of directors at Walmart, Inc.
