Walmart Gives $70,000 to 14 Nonprofits Providing Warm Clothing on the 12th Day of “12 Days of Giving” Holiday Campaign

     Walmart awards grants to organizations from Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington

     Over twelve consecutive days, Walmart has awarded a total of $1.5 million to 140 organizations across the country that are providing basic needs and services such as food, shelter, clothing and medical care. Organizations receiving grants today are featured on Walmart’s Live Better tab on Facebook. The organizations serve communities in: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. 

      Walmart’s November call for submissions resulted in more than 21,677 nominations from Facebook users who submitted descriptions of each nonprofit’s impact in its local community. Submissions were initially reviewed by Walmart associates from across the company and then a panel from the Walmart Foundation selected the winning organizations.

Walmart Names Karen Roberts Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Dec. 20, 2012
     Walmart stores announced the promotion of 17-year company veteran Karen Roberts, 42, to executive vice president and general counsel for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., reporting to Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary Jeff Gearhart, 48. The appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2013.

     In her new role, Roberts will manage the legal department, which is responsible for handling all legal matters affecting the company in its domestic and international markets. Gearhart will maintain oversight for the legal function in addition to his newly expanded responsibilities for Walmart’s compliance, ethics and investigations teams as part of the company’s steps to align the functions and further strengthen its global compliance efforts.
 

Walmart Announces New Store in Springdale

Elm Springs Road store brings approximately 300 additional jobs 

     Walmart today announced plans for a new store at Elm Springs Road and North 48th Street, creating a new option for residents seeking a job or wanting more affordable shopping options close to where they live or work. The Elm Springs Road Walmart will create approximately 300 local jobs and is expected to open in the fall of 2014.

     “Walmart is excited for the opportunity to continue to serve the people of Springdale and Northwest Arkansas,” Walmart Vice President of Real Estate Brian Hooper said. “We are thankful for the vision of Mayor Doug Sprouse of the City of Springdale, and especially the Hall family, who had the foresight to hold this property for development, to bring the people of Northwest Arkansas another opportunity to save money so they can live better.”

     “We are excited to see Walmart as well as additional developments find a new home in northwest Springdale,” said Sprouse. “This new development will continue to improve the quality of life for our citizens and broaden our tax base.”
      Like most new Walmart stores, the Elm Springs Road Walmart will include energy-efficient technology and environmentally friendly features to reduce energy and water consumption and minimize waste. The store will have a day lighting monitoring system in the grocery area. This system automatically and continuously dims all the lights as the daylight contribution increases.

Offers 10 free movies for all new VUDU users

       Calif., Dec. 19, 2012 – VUDU, the leading subscription-free, video-on-demand movie service, today announced its new app for Android, giving customers additional access to their favorite movie and TV entertainment on the go.  The VUDU app enables fans to stream or download more than 100,000 movies and TV shows on select tablet running the Android 4.0 operating system or above, with many more tablet models and smart phones to follow soon. The free app is now available for download in the Google Play store.  

      “The popularity of VUDU combined with Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system, provides customers with even more convenience and access to new releases, Hollywood favorites and shows,” said Prasanna Ganesan, general manager, VUDU.  “Since pioneering movie-on-demand, our mission at VUDU has been to give fans instant access to the greatest selection of movies and TV shows available, on as many devices as possible and with the highest streaming quality.”

Studies show Android is the world’s leading mobile operating system** and is available on a broad selection of devices. Its growth in popularity mirrors the rise of mobile media consumption, which now surpasses TV or PC media consumption via TV.

Walmart Gives $187,500 to 15 Nonprofits Providing Shelter on the Ninth Day of “12 Days of Giving” Holiday Campaign

     On the ninth day of its “12 Days of Giving” holiday campaign,  Walmart is awarding $187,500 to 15 nonprofits that provide shelter and support to men, women and children in need. One of the winning organizations, Families by Choice, serves its community with transitional shelters and a new program that provides lifetime living for mentally handicapped adults who have been abused or abandoned by their family and are not eligible for state programs.

      Over twelve consecutive days, Walmart will award a total of $1.5 million to 140 organizations across the country that are providing basic needs and services such as food, shelter, clothing and medical care. Organizations receiving grants today are featured on Walmart’s Live Better tab on Facebook. The organizations serve communities in: Alaska, California, Delaware, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

      “For some, ‘home for holidays’ just isn’t possible. In fact, more than 600,000 people across the U.S. are currently homeless,” said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the Walmart Foundation. “Walmart supports the essential work of local nonprofit organizations that provide shelter to men, women and children in need. We hope these grants will help give more people a safe, warm place to rest.”
Walmart’s November call for submissions resulted in more than 21,677 nominations from Facebook users who submitted descriptions of each nonprofit’s impact in its local community. Submissions were initially reviewed by Walmart associates from across the company and then a panel from the Walmart Foundation selected the winning organizations.

Walmart Statement in Response to December 17 New York Times Article About Allegations of Corruption in Mexico

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Dec. 17, 2012

      “The allegations contained in the New York Times article surrounding events in 2003-2004 involving the permitting and licensing process for a Walmart de Mexico store in Teotihuacan, Mexico, have been part of the company’s ongoing investigation of potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act we began more than a year ago.

       “The Audit Committee of the board, comprised entirely of independent directors, is overseeing the investigation. “We are also continuing to cooperate with the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission on this matter.

“At this point, the investigation is still ongoing and we have not yet reached final conclusions. A thorough and independent investigation will take time to complete. We wish we could say more but we will not jeopardize the integrity of the investigation.
“We are committed to having a strong and effective global anti-corruption program everywhere we operate and taking appropriate action for any instance of non-compliance.
“While the investigation is ongoing, we have not waited to act. Over the past 20 months, we have made significant improvements to our compliance programs around the world and have taken a number of specific, concrete actions with respect to our processes, procedures and people.
“Over the past several months we have:

• Established several new compliance positions around the world;
• Directed more than 300 third-party legal and accounting experts who have dedicated in excess of 79,000 hours to this effort;
• Conducted more than 85 in-country visits and more than 1,000 interviews of market personnel;
• Spent more than $35 million on new processes and procedures; and
• Conducted training sessions attended by more than 19,000 associates.

“We recognize that our effort to date is a work in progress and there is more to be done as we continue building a world-class FCPA compliance program.”

Getting to the Heart of Christmas

    In the small town of Possum Trot, Texas, one selfless bishop and his wife are changing the lives of more than 75 foster children.

    This holiday season, Walmart and the TODAY Show surprised the community of Possum Trot with an abundance of food, clothes and other necessities for the individual families in the community as well as for the community's Youth Center. A Christmas gift was also given to each of the foster children, and Bishop W.C. Martin was surprised with $15,000 worth of Walmart gift cards to help him throughout the year.