Wal-Mart to Buy Chinese Retail Chain (AP)

[OhioChick]

10.16.2006, 06:15 PM

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will spend about $1 billion in China to buy a chain of 100 hypermarkets in a deal that could vault it ahead of competitors to become the biggest food and department store network in China.

The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the transaction. A spokeswoman for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart declined to comment Monday to The Associated Press.

The deal for the Chinese hypermarkets of Trust-Mart, a closely held Taiwanese company, comes as foreign retailers look to tap China's fast-growing economy, large population and expanding middle class. It also follows Wal-Mart's recent exit from both Germany and South Korea.

If it is approved by Chinese regulators, the transaction would vault Wal-Mart past its archrival, Carrefour SA of France, in number of hypermarkets in China. Wal-Mart beat out Carrefour for the Trust-Mart purchase, according to people involved in the deal.
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/10/16/ap3095512.html

[Demeter]

1. I Hope They Suckered Walmart Good!

[muntrv]

2. Wouldn't Wal-Mart SAP China's middle class instead of tap it?

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Name change for restaurant: Wal-mart Suck n/t

[OhioChick]

4. Surprising

given the fact that China has been setting up trade unions.

Walmart sets up last trade union in China

A trade union for Walmart's Nanguo Store, in Shantou city Shenzhen, was set up on September 29th. This is the last trade union to be set up in China by of the world's largest supermarket chain. There are 62 unions spread across 30 Chinese cities.

The establishment of these 62 trade unions has been a good example for other foreign-owned companies in China and has had a significant influence on the movement of international trade unions, said Xu Deming, vice chairman of All China Federation of Trade Union (ACFTU).

He also said the ultimate goal of trade unions is to defend workers' rights, boost enterprise development and maintain social stability.

The ACFTU called for trade unions at all levels to promote the establishment of unions in foreign-owned companies, in particular Shenzhen Fuxconn, US Kodak (Xiamen) Ltd, and US Dell Computer (China) Ltd in Xiamen.

http://english.people.com.cn/200610/13/eng20061013_311593.html

[JCMach1]

5. Carrefour is much better!!!

one of the best things about UAE: NO WALMART!!!

[OhioChick]

6. UAE: No Walmart........YET!

;-)
Actually, I was watching something on the television a while back and they were showing this mall in the UAE. It was beautiful, so clean, full of such nice stores and gorgeous architecture. I believe that this mall even had an area to ski in it, including snow. Do you know what mall I am referring to?

[JCMach1]

11. Mall of the Emirates

One of the biggest in the World...


http://www.malloftheemirates.com/



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mall_of_Emirates

[OhioChick]

12. That's it!

I'm not a big fan of shopping or malls.....but that is beautiful. Thanks for posting. :)

[Parche]

7. china

In China its called War-Mart

[cascadiance]

8. Get a mug, button, or t-shirt to celebrate!

http://www.cafepress.com/chinamart

[Thor_MN]

9. So they are going to sell cheap imported, uh... Martian crap?

So what are they going to bring in to undercut the cheap Chinese crap they sell to us?

[wickerwoman]

10. Nothing...

The Walmart business model won't work in China because they can't compete with hundreds of thousands of mom and pop shops which stay open fourteen hours a day to clear the $2-3 dollars profit that the family needs to live on. China still doesn't have suburbs because the traffic is too bad and the subway infrastructure hasn't been built to support them. And Walmart has never thrived in city centers where people have alternatives.

Carrefour does OK because it caters to ex-pats but that's a limited market and already saturated between Lotus, Lianhua, Carrefour, Metro, etc.

And in China Walmart will be up against millions of knock-offs, especially DVDs, clothes and electronics.

[RDANGELO]

13. So this is where the money is going.

The money that could be used to give their employees more pay and health care, is being used to create jobs in China instead of the U.S. This is why raising the minimum wage will help our economy.