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Wal-Mart’s stock plunges

Molly Wood Oct 14, 2015

Read our recent coverage of Wal-Mart, and the company’s plans to reinvent itself.

Wal-Mart had a pretty bad day Wednesday. Shares in the company saw their biggest drop in six years, after Walmart shocked analysts by predicting a drop in earnings of as much as 12 percent in 2017.

The company said part of the reason for the lower outlook  was that it plans to invest billion of dollars in its Internet technology infrastructure,  so it can compete with e-commerce giants like Amazon.

Wal-Mart also blamed higher wages for its workers. But the company been struggling to increase sales. It can’t really cut prices any lower and it’s expecting flat growth at least through the rest of the fiscal year.

 The four members of the Walton family, who control the majority of Wal-Mart’s shares, lost about $9 billion in combined net worth, thanks to the stock drop. 

 

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