Walmart

Walmart Inc. (commonly "Walmart") is a multinational retailer headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. It is publicly traded (ticker WMT) and remains controlled by the Walton family, which holds a majority through Walton Enterprises and individual holdings. It employs roughly 2.1 million people and reported total revenues of about $681 billion in fiscal 2025 (year ended January 31, 2025), with net sales of $674.5 billion.

Operations. Walmart operates three reportable segments: Walmart U.S. (about 4,605 stores), Walmart International (roughly 5,566 stores across 18 countries, including majority-owned Flipkart and PhonePe in India, plus Canada, Mexico/Central America and Africa), and Sam's Club U.S. (about 600 membership clubs). Alongside groceries and general merchandise it runs e-commerce sites and apps, a third-party marketplace, in-house advertising, fulfillment and supply-chain services, financial services, and pharmacy/optical/health offerings. It sells private-label brands including Great Value, Equate, Mainstays and Member's Mark.

Patent-litigation posture. Walmart is an operating company on the defense side only: two tracked cases as defendant, zero as plaintiff. The tracked venue is D. Utah. One of its accusers, Cedar Lane Technologies, is a Canadian NPE founded in 2019 that acquired patents from Intellectual Ventures and has filed hundreds of suits, concentrated in W.D. Tex. before Judge Albright.

Notable cases. Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Walmart (filed November 30, 2021) asserted U.S. Patent 8,165,867, directed to remote device command translation; Cedar Lane voluntarily dismissed the case in April 2022. CAO Group, Inc. v. Walmart (No. 2:24-cv-00175, D. Utah, filed March 5, 2024) came from a West Jordan, Utah LED/dental-technology manufacturer founded by Dr. Densen Cao, which asserted five patents covering LED-accelerated teeth-whitening devices and compositions against Walmart's Equate-brand products; public docket reporting indicates the parties stipulated to dismissal with prejudice with each side bearing its own costs.