Three Walmart heirs are now worth at least $100 billion each — and together they’re richer than the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk.
The three surviving children of the late Sam Walton — Jim, Robson, and Alice — are now worth $103 billion, $101 billion, and $100 billion respectively, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Their combined wealth stood at $304 billion at Tuesday’s market close — considerably more than Musk’s $268 billion fortune.
The trio of Waltons have each added about $30 billion to their net worth this year, thanks to Walmart stock surging around 54% since the start of January to close at a record high of just under $81 on Tuesday.
The dynastic heirs to the Walmart fortune rank 16th, 17th, and 18th on Bloomberg’s rich list. They’ve all joined the $100 billion club this month, making them members of an elite group of centibillionaires that includes Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.
Jim, Rob, and Alice’s wealth largely stems from the Walmart shares given to them by their father. They each own more than 11% of the $648 billion company through a family trust, and have each collected more than $15 billion from stock sales and dividends over the years, per Bloomberg.
Include Lukas ($35.7 billion) and Christy ($16.1 billion) — the son and widow of Sam’s fourth child, the late John T. Walton — and the wealth of retail’s royal family exceeds $355 billion. That’s more than the value of Bank of America ($306 billion), Coca-Cola ($307 billion), or even Netflix ($310 billion).
The Waltons have enjoyed rapid growth in their personal wealth thanks to Walmart stock, which has roughly quadrupled since early 2016.
The retailer has benefited from resilient consumer spending as well as investor optimism, now fueled by cooling inflation and waning recession fears following the Federal Reserve’s long-awaited first cut to interest rates.