Samuel Robson “Rob” Walton (born October 28, 1944) is an American billionaire heir to the fortune of
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, the world's largest retailer. He is the eldest son of
Helen Walton
Helen Robson Walton (December 3, 1919 – April 19, 2007) was an American philanthropist and prominent arts advocate, dedicated to her community in Bentonville, Arkansas where she instituted a committee for a national museum of arts. After 31 yea ...
and
Sam Walton
Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992)
was an American business magnate best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in 1962 and 1983 respectively. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew to be the world's l ...
, and was chairman of Walmart from 1992 to 2015. As of October 2022, Walton had an estimated net worth of US$61 billion, making him
the 18th richest person in the world.
He is also the principal owner of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL)'s
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...
.
Early life and family
Rob Walton was born on October 28, 1944, in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
,
[Rob Walton was born in 1944; Forbes listed his age as 66 in March 2011 and 67 in September 2011.] the oldest of four children of
Sam Walton
Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992)
was an American business magnate best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in 1962 and 1983 respectively. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew to be the world's l ...
(1918–1992), cofounder of
Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
, and
Helen Walton
Helen Robson Walton (December 3, 1919 – April 19, 2007) was an American philanthropist and prominent arts advocate, dedicated to her community in Bentonville, Arkansas where she instituted a committee for a national museum of arts. After 31 yea ...
(1919–2007). He has a younger brother,
Jim Walton
James Carr Walton (born June 7, 1948) is an American businessman, currently the heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. As of October 2022, Walton was the seventeenth-richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$61 b ...
, and a younger sister,
Alice Walton
Alice Louise Walton (born October 7, 1949) is an American heiress to the fortune of Walmart. In September 2016, she owned over in Walmart shares. As of October 2022, Walton has a net worth of $59 billion, making her the 19th-richest person, and ...
. Another brother,
John Walton, died in 2005.
Walton attended
The College of Wooster
The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Church ...
and graduated from the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration, where he was a member of the
Lambda Chi Alpha
Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...
fraternity. He received his
juris doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree from
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
in 1969. Walton is also a trustee at The College of Wooster.
[
After graduation, Walton became a member of the law firm that represented Walmart, Conner & Winters in ]Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
. In 1978, he left Tulsa to join Walmart as a senior vice president, and in 1982, he was appointed vice chairman. He was named chairman of the board of directors on April 7, 1992, two days after his father's death.
Along with his siblings, he has pledged about $2 billion to the Walton Family Foundation
The Walton family is an American family whose collective fortune derived from Walmart makes them the richest family in the United States of America.
Overview
The three most prominent living members (Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton) have consist ...
from 2008 to 2013.[
On June 7, 2022, an ownership group led by Walton entered into an agreement to purchase the ]Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...
from the estate of Pat Bowlen
Patrick Dennis Bowlen (February 18, 1944 – June 13, 2019) was a Canadian–American lawyer, executive and the majority owner of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL), winning three Super Bowls. He was inducted in the Pro Foo ...
for $4.65 billion, which set the record for the most expensive sale of a sports franchise in history, subject to approval from the NFL's finance committee and a 3/4 majority of the full NFL ownership group. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was announced as added to the ownership group on July 11, 2022. The family then announced on August 2, 2022, that Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
would be added to the ownership group. Walton delegated most day-to-day authority to his son-in-law, Walmart chairman Greg Penner
Gregory Boyd Penner (born December 18, 1969) is an American businessman and venture capitalist. Penner is a co-owner and CEO of the Denver Broncos. Penner was named the chairman of Walmart in June 2015. He is the son-in-law of S. Robson Walton ...
, who took over as CEO of the franchise and the public face of the ownership group.
Personal life
By the time he left Tulsa in 1978, Walton had three children, was divorced from his first wife, and had remarried to Carolyn Funk. He and Carolyn filed for divorce in 2000. He married his third wife Melani Lowman-Walton in 2005.[DV00-01797 - S. ROBSON WALTON VS. CAROLYN F. WALTON (DIVORCE - NO CHILDREN)](_blank)
SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT STATE OF NEVADA, Washoe County. August 15, 2000. His children include Carrie Walton Penner.
In 2022, due to a decline in Wal-Mart's share price, Rob and his siblings lost more than $27 billion.[Mitchell Van Homrigh]
World’s richest family loses $27 billion
May 18, 2022
Car collection
Walton is a well-known collector of automobiles. His car collection is valued in excess of US$300 million and includes:
* Ferrari 250 GTO
The Ferrari 250 GTO is a GT car produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for homologation into the FIA's Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's ''Tipo 168/62'' Colombo V12 engine.
The "250" in its name denotes the disp ...
s/n 5575GT
* Ferrari 250 GTO s/n 3607
* Ferrari 250 SWB
* Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder
* Ferrari 250 LM
* Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa
* Ferrari 275 GTB Competizione Speciale
* Ferrari 250 GT Zagato Berlinetta
* Ferrari 575 GT Zagato
* McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 is a sports car designed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer McLaren Cars, and powered by the BMW S70/2 V12 engine. The original concept was conceived by Gordon Murray. Murray was able to convince Ron Dennis to b ...
#052, purchased from Lawrence Stroll
Lawrence Sheldon Strulović (name later anglicized to Strulovitch) (born 11 July 1959), best known as Lawrence Stroll, is a Canadian billionaire businessman, part-owner and executive chairman of Aston Martin, and the owner of the Aston Martin F1 ...
.
* Shelby Daytona
The Shelby Daytona Coupe (also referred to as the Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe) is an American sports-coupé. It is related to the Shelby Cobra roadster, loosely based on its chassis and drive-train developed and built as an advanced evolution. I ...
chassis CSX2286
* 1963 Aston Martin DP215 Grand Touring Competition Prototype
* Ford GT40
The Ford GT40 is a high-performance endurance racing car commissioned by the Ford Motor Company. It grew out of the "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring) project, an effort to compete in European long-distance sports car races, against Ferrari, which wo ...
MK1
References
External links
Official Wal-Mart biography
S. Robson Walton's campaign contributions
Rob Walton Refuses to Answer on Company’s Record in Local Communities
- video report by ''Democracy Now!
''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, S. Robson
1944 births
Living people
American billionaires
American car collectors
American chairpersons of corporations
American corporate directors
American retail chief executives
Businesspeople from Arkansas
Businesspeople from Tulsa, Oklahoma
Columbia Law School alumni
Directors of Walmart
Oklahoma lawyers
University of Arkansas alumni
S. Robson
Denver Broncos owners
Denver Broncos personnel