Shares for Walmart experienced a huge decline in value on Wednesday, and the effect is being felt by the family owners of the massive American retailer.
Walmart is controlled by four members of the Walton family, who own more than half of the shares of the company. Their combined net worth fell by $9.3 billion on Wednesday, as Walmart shares dropped after the giant retailer announced a lower earnings outlook for the next fiscal year than had been originally anticipated by market analysts.
The company announced that its earnings for the fiscal year of 2017 would fall by as much as 12%. Market analysts were expecting Walmart’s prediction to be that of a slight gain.
Shares of Walmart declined by up to 10% following the announcement. They fell to their lowest value since 1999.
The four major Walton family members are Christy, Jim, Alice and Rob.
Together, they have a combined $122 billion to their names. The vast majority of their wealth comes from shares that they inherited from the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton. Earlier this year in January, the Waltons had a combined total of $169 billion to their names.
They aren’t the only people to perform poorly in the market this year. Telecommunications mogul of Mexico Carlos Slim has lost $12.7 billion, which makes him the largest loser of 2015, while Warren Buffett has lost $11.6 billion.
The Waltons have been some of the worst performing billionaires of 2015, as they have lost a total of $39 billion since the start of the year.
Walmart was founded in Bentonville, Arkansas as a mass merchandiser. It has been known for “rolling back prices”, but the company has also warned shoppers to “watch out for falling prices”.
However, it looks like these prices are not the prices of merchandise, but rather their stock prices.
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