Walmart’s top 10 owners lose $14.7B in a single day
The U.S. retailing giant on Wednesday forecast a 6% to 12% earnings drop in fiscal year 2017. Don’t think it’s just a “rich person’s problem.” Walmart’s drop hit many individual investors close to home.
The Waltons had a bad — and expensive— day.
Retailing giant Walmart stunned investors Wednesday when it gave disappointing guidance for growth and profit, sending its stock down 10% to $60.03. The stock drop, which was the biggest in decades, instantly wiped out more than $21 billion in shareholder wealth.
That drop was bad for anyone who owns shares of Walmart. But it was especially painful for the company’s top 10 shareholders, who collectively own two-thirds of Walmart’s outstanding stock, according to a USA TODAY analysis
Some of the nation’s wealthiest aren’t quite as wealthy after dive
of data from S&P Capital IQ.
The top 10 saw $14.7 billion in wealth vanish Wednesday.
The dive in Walmart shares hurt some of the wealthiest people in America, including Walton family members Alice, Jim, John and S. Robson. Famed investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway also is a huge owner of Walmart stock. All were on the front line for one of the biggest implosions of a blue-chip stock in recent years.
Walton Enterprises, an investment vehicle controlled by several members of the Walmart family, suffered the biggest hit. This investment vehicle owns 1.4 billion shares of Walmart, or 44% of the total shares outstanding, S&P Capital IQ says. Its holdings took a $9.5 billion hit.
When you include the holdings of other Walton family-controlled entities, such as the 197 million shares owned by S. Robson Walton and 194 million held in the Walton family name, the day’s loss jumps to more than $12 billion.
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 60.4 million shares of Walmart and lost nearly $405 million.
Don’t think it’s just a “rich person’s problem,” either. Walmart’s drop hit many individual investors close to home.
Index fund behemoth Vanguard is the fourth-largest owner of Walmart stock because Walmart’s huge market value makes it a key holding in many index funds, which are widely held by individual investors.
Vanguard’s 98.6 million shares brought home a $660 million daily loss directly to Vanguard investors.
The pain of owning a big chunk of a single stock became painfully clear again Wednesday — especially if your last name is Walton.