Walmart is one of the five largest companies in the world that owns a significant number of other companies, some of which are well-known subsidiaries and others that you might find surprising.
For instance, Walmart owns both warehouse shopping giant Sam’s Club and well-known affordable furniture site Hayneedle.com!
Below are 15 of Walmart’s largest subsidiaries from all over the world, and they all serve a different function for the super-sized organization that is Walmart. Each company adds a deeper dimension to the ever-growing company.
Key Takeaways
10 of the Most Well-Known Companies Owned by Walmart
Walmart is spending a lot of money and energy on its need to compete with the lucrative Amazon model. From fashion to global expansion, Walmart is an always hungry machine, working towards competing in a new market against a shadowy opponent.
If you’re struggling to wrap your head around the sheer enormity of Walmart, beyond the big box store, we get it. It’s just huge. Up next, we have ten of the most well-known companies that Walmart owns, and chances are you’ve heard of most of them.
1. Hayneedle
Hayneedle is an online furniture site that is well known for its cheap but stylish furniture options. I have perused the site many times, dreaming of an affordable, classic remodel for all the rooms in my house without ever realizing that Walmart owned the site.
Walmart acquired Hayneedle in 2016 in the hopes that the site would offer them a foot in the door of online shopping.
2. Jet
Similar to the reasons behind the purchase of Hayneedle, Walmart also purchased Jet.com in 2016 for 3.3 billion dollars.
Walmart had hopes that this acquisition would allow them to enter into direct competition with online shopping icon Amazon.com.
These days, when you type Jet.com into your browser window, it will take you directly to Walmart.com since the company has absorbed the website’s ideas and style but chose to leave the domain name behind.
3. Massmart
This African-based company was purchased in 2011 for 2.54 million dollars. Massmart is the 2nd largest goods distributor in Africa and has over 420 stores in the country, selling general goods, groceries, and liquor.
Under the Massmart corporate umbrella, numerous other companies specialize in discounted goods for consumers in Africa, such as Massbuilders and Massdiscounters. This acquisition expanded Walmarts reach into the sub-Saharan continent.
4. Art.com
Similar to Hayneedle, Art.com is a well-known place to shop for affordable home decor and wall art. In fact, it is the largest dealer of online art and home decor on the web.
By acquiring this site in 2018, Walmarts successfully expanded its online presence, bringing it a little closer to its goal of directly competing with Amazon.com
5. Shoes.com
Walmart made an unexpected choice when it opted to purchase Shoes.com in 2017. Costing $9 million, the site was supposed to allow Walmart to offer products that Amazon was to yet selling at their deeply discounted rates.
Once again, Walmart was hoping to add to their online presence and improve their digitals sales with this acquisition.
6. Bonobos
Bonobos is the first clothing brand mentioned on this list, and the purchasing of it was a move on Walmart’s part to begin adding online fashion to their portfolio. Bonobos is a men’s clothing site that specializes in affordable fashions with a modern and pricey feel.
Acquired in 2017 for 310 million dollars, the brand helped Walmart on its endless journey to face off against Amazon directly on a virtual playing field.
7. Moosejaw
Walmarts’ desire to add fashion to its resume did not stop with men’s clothing. In the same year as Bonobos was acquired, Walmart snagged Moosejaw for $51 billion, allowing them to bring a rugged and outdoorsy aspect to their growing fashion sector.
Men and women who enjoy the outdoors may be surprised to learn that one of their favorite brands for preparing for camping, hiking, and other adventures is owned by Walmart.
8. Bare Necessities
Elegant and sophisticated products are found at staggeringly low prices at Bare Necessities, and I was shocked to learn that “elegant” and “sophisticated” could be terms I might use to describe a purchase from the Walmart company.
Purchase in 2018, once again, Walmart hoped to leverage Bare Necessities’ popularity online to improve its standing in relation to Amazon.
9. Eloquii
One of their more recent forays into the world of fashion found Walmart purchasing plus-sized fashion giant Eloquii.
Unlike Jet.com, Elonquii has retained its website’s apparently independent identity. However, the decreased price points are possible only due to Elonquii’s relationship with Walmart.
It remains to be seen if Elonquii will be worth the $100 million that Walmart spent on it as yet another attempt to bring it into the same arena as Amazon.
10. Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club was created by Walmart in 1983 in order to allow the retailer to enter the world of large volume, discount shopping.
Similar to Costco and BJ’s, you must have a membership to this “exclusive” club that you pay yearly in order to access the quantity discounts on offer in the giant superstore.
5 of the Most Lesser-Known Companies Owned by Walmart
We’re not done yet! This list by no means encompasses all the companies owned by Walmart, nor does it explore all the reasons and purposes behind these acquisitions, but hopefully, it does demonstrate just how widespread Walmart’s reach is and how deeply it has penetrated into to many of our lives.
Here are five of the smaller, coming up we have five of the smaller, lesser-known companies that are owned by Walmart.
11. Aspectiva
The most forward-thinking and innovative purchase on this list is, by far, Aspectiva.
Based in India, this small company was purchased in 2019 with the hopes that their leadership in tech design and customer service would allow Walmart to begin getting ahead of the competition in the online and in-person marketplace.
Although Walmart did not disclose the cost of this Indian corporate gem, it is easy to see the value and wisdom in acquiring it for the Walmart family.
12. Amigo
Amigo is a large grocery store chain, largely based in the US territory of Puerto Rico which was purchased by Walmart in 2002.
The incredibly lucrative acquisition allowed Walmart to work collaboratively with Amigo to expand their business outside of the supermarket world and include more products at steeper discounts to its customers, similar to a Super Walmart model.
13. Flipkart
Based in India, Flipkart‘s goal was to improve the experience of small business owners in India by allowing them access to affordable wholesale goods online from across the globe.
Walmart is hoping to leverage its access to these goods to improve its presence both in India and in eCommerce.
Therefore, Walmart purchased a controlling share in the company for $16 billion in 2018 to support their goal of growing their digital presence.
14. Seiyu
As the largest supermarket chain in Japan, Seiyu was an obvious acquisition for then sales giant Walmart.
Originally opened in 1963, Seiyu already had a strong reputation with its Japanese customers that Walmart was able to capitalize on by collaborating with Rakuten to get the food retailer online and established as a one-stop virtual grocery store and delivery service.
15. Carhco
This is another grocery store, currently based mostly in Puerto Rico and Central America.
Carhco, in fact, is the largest supermarket chain in that region and was acquired by Walmart in 2004. As part of Walmart’s ever-expanding global presence, Carhco was well worth the 2 billion dollars Walmart spent on it.
To learn more about Walmart, you can see our related posts on Walmart statistics, Walmart’s competitive advantages, why Walmart failed in Germany, the Walmart logo meaning, and the Walton Family networth.
Sources: