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Sam Walton
Sam Walton: Entrepreneurial Genius and Creator of Wal-Mart Dedication, risk-taking, empire-building, and world shaking; words that describe a man that changed this world. This man is not any ordinary man, but a man of vision and hope; a man that started from nothing, and if alive today would be worth more then Bill Gates. Sam Walton, creator and founder of Wal-Mart Incorporations, shaped this world. “From his birth on March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma to his death in April 6, 1992 at Little Rock, Arizona” (“Sam Walton” NNDB), Sam Walton changed this world both for the better and the worse by providing such cheep goods to people around the world. Born into a family that was no well off, Sam quickly learned as a kid the value of a dollar. “During high school Walton was very athletic playing basketball and football as starting quarterback for Columbia’s Hickman High School. He became the vice president of the student body during his junior year and moved up to president during his senior year, and he also excelled academically becoming an honors student.”(“Sam Walton” InvestingValue) “In 1940 he graduated from the University of Missouri with a business degree, and while all throughout high school and college he had a paper rout and was making about 4 to $5,000 a year, which at that time wasn’t bad because they were going threw the great depression” (Walton and Huey p. 20). After college Sam went on to “do a management position at J.C. Penny’s and remained there until 1962. Late in 1962 Sam Walton changed this world, and he opened the first Wal-Mart”( “Sam Walton“ InvestingValue)(see “First Wal-Mart Store“). “We opened our first Wal-Mart here in Northwest Arkansas” (Walton and Huey XI). With his first Wal-Mart open he didn’t see the outstanding success that he had planed for when he went into this investment. “[...] first starting out he only had $5,000 of his own money, and he had to borrow $20,000 from his girlfriends father-in-law” (Walton and Huey


Cited: "Sam Walton." NNDB, Tracking the Entire World. 2008. Soylent Communications. “Sam Walton.” Investing Value: Business and Finance Portal. 2008. InvestingValue.com. 4 May 2008 < http://www.investingvalue.com/investment-leaders/sam- walton/index.htm> Newsome, Dwight; Lisanti, Tony “Sam Walton’s Wife.” Photo. Money.cnn.com. 2008. 3 May 2008 <http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/ 05/14/100008717/index.htm>. “First Wal-Mart Store.” Photo. HRH Media.com. 2008. 7 May 2008 <http://www.hrhmedia.com/IndependentAmerica/page20/IA%20Photo%20 download.html>. “Wal-Mart Smiley Face.” Photo. adweek.blogs.com. 2004. 4 May 2008 <http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2006/10/the_last_days_o.html>. “Wal-Mart Founder and Billionaire.” Fresh Thinking Business. 2008. Fresh Business Thinking. 7 May 2008 <http://www.freshthinkingbusiness.com/sam- walton.html>. “Sam Walton (aka Samuel Moore Waltonn).” About.com. 2008. The New York Times Company . 9 May 2008 <http://beginnersinvest.about.com/od/samwalton/ p/aasamwalton.htm>.
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