Famous Entrepreneurs Information

Alice Walton
Net Worth: $17.6 billion
Source: Wal-Mart/U.S.
Age: 59
Marital Status: Twice divorced

• Wal-Mart remains the exception to the rule in the crumbling retail sector, thanks to its global footprint and deeply discounted prices. Also helping: the exodus of competitors like Circuit City and Linens 'n Things.

• Shares down 25% since September.

• Fourth-quarter profit hurt by lawsuit settlements, poor currency exchange; still beat analyst expectations.

• Stake in solar-paneling outfit First Solar fared far worse; shares down 60% since August after surging 120% in previous 12 months.

• Sam Walton started as J.C. Penney clerk in 1940; opened Newport, Ark., five-and-dime store Benjamin Franklin five years later. Lost lease in 1950.

• With brother James started general store chain in Bentonville, Ark., in 1962.

• Today Wal-Mart is world's largest retailer: 7,200 stores, 2 million employees serve 200 million customers. Sales: $378 billion.

• Alice's Crystal Bridges art museum in Bentonville under construction. Collection already growing; acquisitions include Sargent's "Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife," Benton's "Ploughing It Under."

by Luisa Kroll, Matthew Miller, and Tatiana Serafin

Labels: Alice Walton, Crystal Bridges art museum, famous entrepreneurs, Wal-Mart