# Walmart — Capital Time Machine

Walmart’s path was a family-founded retail business followed by its 1970 public offering. Its history does not follow a modern Series A–F venture financing ladder.

Canonical citation: https://capitaltimemachine.com/private/walmart

Ticker: WMT
Sector: Retail
Public-market route: IPO
Evidence reviewed: 2026-09-24

## How to use this research

Selected historical funding and listing evidence, not a complete private cap table or live quote. Funding totals, company valuations and per-share prices are different measures. A hypothetical value is not actual sale proceeds; investor access is not established.

## Funding and listing history

### first-store — First Walmart store

Date: 1962
Event type: Formation

Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store. This operating milestone is not a priced venture round.

Source: [Walmart corporate history](https://corporate.walmart.com/about/history)
Source location: 1962 first store; 1969 incorporation; 1970 public offering.

### incorporation — Corporate incorporation

Date: 1969
Event type: Formation

The business incorporated before its 1970 public offering.

Source: [Walmart corporate history](https://corporate.walmart.com/about/history)
Source location: 1962 first store; 1969 incorporation; 1970 public offering.

### ipo — Walmart public offering

Date: 1970-10-01
Event type: IPO

300,000 shares were offered at $16.50.

Reported price: $16.50

Source: [Walmart stock-split history](https://stock.walmart.com/stock-data/stock-split-history)
Source location: 1970 IPO at $16.50; eleven two-for-one splits and 2024 three-for-one split.

### splits — Twelve public splits

Date: 1971–2024
Event type: Share basis

Eleven two-for-one splits followed by a three-for-one split produce 6,144 shares per IPO share.

Source: [Walmart stock-split history](https://stock.walmart.com/stock-data/stock-split-history)
Source location: 1970 IPO at $16.50; eleven two-for-one splits and 2024 three-for-one split.

Source: [Walmart 2024 stock-split FAQ](https://stock.walmart.com/_assets/_9892d162c46e32522aec622a96529b9b/walmart/db/1052/9733/document/stock-split-q-a.pdf)
Source location: Split-adjusted trading February 26, 2024.

## Documented share calculations

### ipo — IPO offer price · $16.50

Starting price: 16.50 USD per starting share
Starting date or context: IPO · 1970-10-01

Base conversion: 6144 common-share equivalents per starting share, before dated public splits

Original IPO price with 2^11 × 3 = 6,144 current-basis shares per original share. Use a price on or after February 26, 2024; earlier split boundaries are not modeled.

Public trading begins: 1970-10-01
Supported ending dates begin: 2024-02-26
Share basis reviewed through: 2024-02-26

The ending share price and its date must be supplied by the user.

Formula: amount ÷ 16.50 × (6144) × applicable dated public splits × ending share price. 

Source: [Walmart stock-split history](https://stock.walmart.com/stock-data/stock-split-history)
Source location: 1970 IPO at $16.50; eleven two-for-one splits and 2024 three-for-one split.

Source: [Walmart 2024 stock-split FAQ](https://stock.walmart.com/_assets/_9892d162c46e32522aec622a96529b9b/walmart/db/1052/9733/document/stock-split-q-a.pdf)
Source location: Split-adjusted trading February 26, 2024.

## Later share adjustments

No separate share-class distribution is modeled.

## Coverage gaps and limitations

- No modern Series A–F sequence or externally purchasable founder price is inferred from the company history.

- The stored cumulative split factor supports post-February 2024 prices. Cash dividends and other distributions are excluded.

Entered prices and later-date share-basis assumptions are unverified. Excludes fees, taxes, dividends, warrants and other distributions; fractional shares are illustrative. Historical investor allocations, minimums and selling rights are not established.

Methodology: https://capitaltimemachine.com/methodology

Research terms: https://capitaltimemachine.com/terms