Jim Walton Life Story
Jim Walton Life Story
James Carr Walton was born on June 7, 1948. He is an American businessman, currently the heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. As of March 2022, Walton was the 17th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $62.5 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Jim Walton was born in Newport, Jackson County, Arkansas, was the 3rd child of Walmart co-founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton with siblings Rob Walton, Alice Walton, and John Walton.
He received a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration in Marketing from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas in 1971, where he was president of his junior class & played football at all-state level where he was also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He took a year long break and decided to explore the world. He travelled & learned to fly plane. Thereafter he returned to Arkansans & joined the family business.
After working in the ‘Walton Enterprises’ for a few months, Jim showed keen interest in banking; his father owned ‘Arvest Bank,’ which eventually became the largest and the oldest bank in the state of Arkansans. He served as the CEO of the bank, until he became its chairman.
Although ‘Arvest’ never came into the big league at the national level banking, it did manage to perform quite well on the net interest margin scale, considering the limited core area of its operations.
All three brothers - Jim, John, and Rob hold an equal 25.88 % shares in the bank while the rest is held by its employees.
Under Jim’s leadership, the bank has grown exponentially. It has acquired many small banks, such as WestStar Bank, Caney Valley National Bank, and The Bank of Pea Ridge.
During the economic recession of the late 2010s, ‘Arvest’ refused funds from the ‘Troubled Asset Relief Program.’ Later in March 2013, ‘Arvest’ acquired 29 branches of the ‘Bank of America’ in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
The bank has more than 200 branches in states such as Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. In addition, the bank owns many mortgage and insurance companies as well. In order to maintain the high level of growth in the bank operations, Jim has been using the same business model his father, Sam, used to expand ‘Walmart.’
Sam also bought a local newspaper ‘The Benton County Daily Record’ and it evolved to become ‘Community Publishers Inc.,’ owned by the ‘Walton’ family. Sam had initially bought it for marketing and printing flyers and brochures. Overtime, it became an important enterprise in the family business, as it saved the ‘Waltons’ from negative press.
Jim practically stayed away from ‘Walmart’ for many years until 2005, when his eldest brother, John, passed away. He was serving as a member of the ‘Board of Directors’ in ‘Walmart’ and Jim took over his position.
He is also a regular contributor to the ‘Walton Family Foundation.’
On September 28, 2005, Walton replaced his deceased brother, John, on the Wal-Mart Board of Directors. He is currently on the Strategic Planning and Finance committees. He was CEO of his family owned Arvest Bank, until becoming Chairman of Arvest Bank, and Chairman of newspaper firm Community Publishers Inc. (CPI) owned by Jim Walton himself (but founded by his father Sam Walton after acquiring the local newspaper the Benton County Daily Record, both operating in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma). He has pledged about $2 billion to the Walton Family Foundation along with his siblings from 2008 to 2013. On October 15, 2015, The Baton Rouge Advocate in the capital city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, reported that PAC-Empower Louisiana had allocated about $818,000 to candidates running for the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education who support the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The political action committee members include Alice and Jim Walton, Eli Broad of Los Angeles, California, and the trade association, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Four candidates in eight districts, including Sandy Holloway, James Garvey in District 1 (suburban New Orleans), and Holly Boffy were declared "acceptable" to the PAC. Holloway collected $87,696; Garvey, the board vice president, $230,459; Boffy, another incumbent from Lafayette, $107,145. The Common Core candidates staged major victories in the primary election held on October 24, 2015. He does not have any direct connection with politics, but he has been known as a supporter of the white supremacist politicians, such as Jason Rapert.
In 2016, a report stated that Jim owned 152 million shares in Walmart, valued at $11 billion. His net worth was assumed to be around $41.9 billion in March 2018, making him one of the richest persons in the world.
He married with, Lynne McNabb Walton & has four children: Alice A. Proietti (born November 1979), Steuart Walton (born April 1981), Thomas L. Walton (born September 1983), and James M. Walton (born August 1987). The family resides in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Jim is a shy individual and does not like to be in the limelight.
On the 2013 Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America he is ranked at #7.
In 2014, he was ranked at #10 on the Forbes list of billionaires with a net worth of $34.7 billion that has increased by $3 billion.
As of March 2019, he was ranked as the 16th-richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $45.7 billion
In 2016, a report stated that Jim owned 152 million shares in Walmart, valued at $11 billion. His net worth was assumed to be around $41.9 billion in March 2018, making him one of the richest persons in the world.
JIM WALTON QUOTE:
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