Walmart leaders note company history, push AI adoption

For more than half a half-century Walmart has celebrated its successes annually with its employees and shareholders, from early picnics on the Bentonville lawn of founders Helen and Sam Walton to the star-studded spectacle held at Bud Walton Arena at the University of Arkansas since 1999.

More than 5,000 Walmart employees from 19 countries in which the retailer operates took part this week in celebrations and lessons learned to take back to their stores and share with co-workers.

Walmart CEO John Furner said his one memory of Sam Walton was from one of the company cookouts that took place just outside of Bentonville when he was around 10-years old.

“My parents had moved us to Northwest Arkansas from a bigger town in Fort Smith, and dad had taken a job as a regional operator in Kentucky,” Furner said during a press conference with the media on June 3. “He took us to a summer cookout. … This guy came by, and he messed up my hair, saying, ‘Who’s this little guy?’” I remember asking my mom who it was, and she said it was Sam Walton.”

Walmart is in the midst of an AI transformation, and that was front and center at the big meeting on Friday. In the past year, Walmart has challenged employees to embrace AI. Darlene Land, a 33-year employee in the people division at Walmart, was the first in the company to complete the OpenAI certification.

“I think Mr. Sam would 100% embrace AI because it’s just going to move us forward as a business and help us better serve our customers,” Land said.

Furner said Walmart U.S. employs roughly 1.3 million people who have devices and tools to help them know what the best next thing is to do. They can see modulars, planograms and locate things more easily across buildings that span four to five acres. He said technology that helps employees do more, go faster, while also saving physical labor, is a big for the company.

“It will also allow more productivity and enable future growth,” he said. “We have a top-line growth mindset, and we will also take care of customers.”

This past year, two members of Walmart’s technology group, Michael Pfaffenbereger and John Choi, built “Code Puppy,” an AI coding assistant. The experiment allowed Walmart employees to see the uses of AI as a tool to enhance job performance, not as a replacement for their jobs.

Furner recognized Pfaffenbereger and Choi with the President’s Innovation Award for developing Code Puppy. More than 4,000 store employees now use Code Puppy, according to Walmart.

“Our people have jobs, they have lots of processes and tasks involved,” Furner said. “If Code Puppy applications can speed up some of those tasks, that’s more time for them to work on more important issues. Generally, there’s a lot of optimism.”

Walmart grew revenue to $713.3 billion in the previous fiscal year, with sales up 5.1%. While the company posted financial gains, it was unseated as No. 1 on the Fortune 500 by Forbes Magazine for the first time in at least 13 years. Amazon took the top spot with $716.9 billion in annual revenue. Walmart Board Chairman Greg Penner said Walmart has raised its annual dividend for 53 consecutive years. Last year, Walmart paid approximately $7.5 billion in common stock dividends, with much of that benefiting Walton family members and holdings. Amazon did not pay a dividend.

Former CEO Doug McMillon was recognized at Friday’s meeting by Penner as a generational leader for the retail giant. McMillon, who also retired from his board service, received a standing ovation at the event that was hosted by award-winning actor, writer and comedian Jason Sudeikis, aka, Ted Lasso. Sudeikis joked with McMillon about how comfortable he looked now that he is no longer CEO. He commented on McMillon’s facial hair growth and told him to undo one more shirt button to match his carefree look. McMillon complied.

Sudeikis recently signed a partnership with Sam’s Club as brand ambassador. A proclaimed fan of Sam’s Club, Sudeikis said he remembers going to his local club in Overland Park, Kan.

“We would roll out of there with four baskets full of stuff,” he said. “My dad loved to shop there, and I still do.”

Penner and board member Steuart Walton gave Denise Incandela, executive vice president of apparel for Walmart U.S., the Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur Award for her transformation of Walmart’s fashion business. She has assembled around 100 people who work in the fashion district in New York City. In the first quarter of this year, Penner said apparel sales were up 10%, and it’s a category continuing to grow sales in stores and online.

Musical acts of Benson Boone, Shaboozey and Pink performed during Friday’s event.