Walmart Inc. has canceled its annual employee celebration week and will hold its formal shareholders meeting online, on June 3, the company said Friday.
After weeks of speculation, the Bentonville-based retailer made the announcement in a news release, citing "the public health impact from the coronavirus outbreak."
"The logistics and lead time required to coordinate 5,000 associates traveling from around the world to attend both the Friday meeting and corresponding Associates Week events has created too much uncertainty to ensure everyone's safety given the current state of the coronavirus pandemic," Walmart's news release said.
The huge, celebrity-studded celebration each year on the first Friday in June has been held at Fayetteville's Bud Walton Arena since 1994, Walmart historian Alan Dranow told Business Insider in 2017. Thousands of delegates from the retailer's operations around the world descend on Northwest Arkansas starting on Tuesday of that week for four days of concerts, tours of the Walton Museum in Bentonville and other events.
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It's unclear whether the Friday extravaganza has ever been canceled before.
According to Dranow, Walmart founder Sam Walton decided in 1970 to hold his first shareholders meeting -- Walton and five others sitting at a table in a coffee shop. That was also the year Walmart made its initial public offering, with its stock selling at about $15 a share.
Meetings were held throughout the '70s, but with low attendance. Most were held in Bentonville High School's auditorium, and Walton paid travel and accommodation expenses for the Wall Street analysts and major shareholders he invited.
Walton wrote in his autobiography, published posthumously in 1992, that the New York financiers weren't exactly accustomed to the way of life in small-town Arkansas. "I remember one lady wore a formal gown to one of the dinners," he recalled. "It got a few curious looks."
In 1981, Walton and his wife, Helen, decided to host a shareholders float trip for the meeting, with overnight camping. Walton wrote in his memoir that the event on the banks of Sugar Creek "was a real fiasco."
Still, throughout the '80s, Dranow said, the meetings grew into a celebration and focused more on the company's employees. The annual event moved into Barnhill Arena at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and included performers such as Reba McEntire and Chet Atkins.
Although Walton died in 1992, his children took up the torch and the meetings continued to grow. By the time they moved into the Bud Walton Arena, Walmart invited about 10,000 employees each year.
In recent years, about 14,000 Walmart and Sam's Club employees come from around the globe as if on a pilgrimage. From the bars on Dickson Street in Fayetteville to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, they get to enjoy Northwest Arkansas' many attractions.
Steve Clark, president and chief executive officer of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, said that given the current crisis, the cancellation reflects Walmart's values of putting safety first. However, he said, "it will have a big impact on our city and the region."
The annual event draws thousands who have never been to the state, bringing business to hotels, restaurants, transportation and apparel companies. Clark said the sales tax impact alone is significant considering the filled hotels.
"The financial impact is significant, you can't dismiss that," said Clark, a former Arkansas attorney general. "It's the kind of thing you think, 'Oh, I've got to go sit down for this.'"
Matthew Waller, dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, said he enjoys seeing all the different cultures and nations represented each year in Northwest Arkansas. The weeklong event is also good for the University of Arkansas brand, he said. In addition to the festivities at Bud Walton Arena, store associates usually stay in dorms at the Fayetteville campus.
"I think it's a shame that they aren't able to have their shareholders meeting," Waller said. "But I understand."
Clark said Fayetteville chamber members had wondered if the event would still happen given the far-reaching effects of covid-19. The situation is "unprecedented, which is why we are not going to cry a tear and say, 'Oh, why us?'" he said. "But celebrate that Walmart is staying true to its founding principles."
In Walmart's June 3 meeting, eligible shareholders will vote on business and proxy proposals and elect board members. This year, shareholders may attend the virtual meeting and cast their votes online during the meeting.
More details about the meeting time, how it may be accessed and how shares may be voted before or during the meeting will be included in Walmart's proxy statement, which the company will file later this month.
A Section on 04/04/2020