A Message
from our Chairman

This past year was like none other in our history as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our businesses in markets around the world. I am so proud of how our team of amazing associates has responded to the challenges. We spent $4 billion in incremental costs related to COVID-19 and implemented changes across our operations to make our facilities safer for associates to work and our customers and members to shop. It has been amazing to see our associates adapt and continue to serve our customers and communities around the globe.

We’ve shown our appreciation to our associates, especially those serving customers on the front line in our stores, clubs, and supply chain, by paying four special cash bonuses to our U.S. hourly associates in 2020. These special cash bonuses totaled more than $1.5 billion and were in addition to U.S. hourly associates’ regular quarterly incentive payments. We also enhanced our paid time off and leave policies during the pandemic while hiring more than 500,000 new associates to support increased demand. We’ve also continued to invest in our people as we transform into an omni-channel organization. Last fall, we gave a raise to 165,000 associates in store leadership roles, including coaches, team leads, and supervisors. Earlier this year, we announced that we are raising wages for 425,000 additional associates. We’ve continued to invest to provide career advancement and a ladder of opportunity through our training and education programs and by providing access to college degrees for as little as $1 a day.

This past year also accelerated many of the customer trends we have been focused on such as eCommerce adoption and contactless shopping, and in doing so, confirmed that our strategy is the right one. Our progress in the last few years in transforming Walmart into a truly omni-channel business prepared us for this time and put us in a position to accelerate our strategy going forward. We will continue to innovate to create a seamless, digital customer experience and deepen our customer relationships, which will also enable us to diversify our business model by providing related services such as healthcare, marketplace, advertising, and financial services. We are also finding new ways to leverage the scale and breadth of our operations, bringing technology to life to better serve our customers and associates. We are committed to doing all this in a way that creates long-term shareholder value by meeting the needs of all stakeholders, including our customers, associates, suppliers, business partners, communities, and the planet.

Your Board is highly engaged in overseeing this strategy during this time of rapid change. I am confident that the Board has the right mix of diverse skills, experience, and backgrounds to serve as a strategic asset for our company, and is well-positioned to continue to guide us in the years to come.

Sincerely,

Gregory B. Penner
Chairman