Walmart (NYSE: WMT) approved the largest share repurchase authorization in its 55-year history as a publicly traded company, a $30 billion program announced in February 2026.
The move follows a fiscal year in which Walmart returned $15.6 billion to shareholders through a combination of dividends and stock buybacks.
Management credited investments in artificial intelligence with strengthening operating performance, citing the improved results as a key driver behind authorizing the record repurchase program.
During that same fiscal year, Walmart retired 85 million shares, underscoring the scale and pace of its capital return strategy heading into 2026.
The announcement quickly drew fire from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of the most vocal critics of corporate stock repurchase programs in the United States.
Sanders argued on X that since 2020, Walmart spent $37.6 billion on stock buybacks, writing: “Since 2020, Walmart spent $37.6 billion in stock buybacks — enough to give all their workers a $23,550 bonus.”
He continued: “Instead, Walmart pays wages so low that many of their workers need Medicaid & SNAP paid for by taxpayers.”
Sanders has long characterized corporate buyback programs as forms of “corporate self-indulgence” that “enrich the wealthy few” at the expense of frontline workers.
In 2019, Sanders joined Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) in introducing legislation that would have prohibited corporations from repurchasing shares unless they first raised entry-level wages to $15 per hour and provided workers with sick leave and pensions.
The bill, formally titled the Stop Welfare for Any Large Monopoly Amassing Revenue from Taxpayers Act, and known as the “Stop WALMART Act,” ultimately stalled in Congress without advancing to a vote.
Sanders also backed a shareholder proposal in June 2019 that would have placed Walmart employees on the company’s board of directors, but Walmart shareholders voted it down.
Critics of buybacks, including Sanders, point out that share repurchases primarily benefit shareholders and executives rather than rank-and-file employees who do not participate in stock-purchase plans.
Many economists, however, push back on that framing, arguing that returning excess cash to shareholders does not necessarily come at the expense of worker pay, since compensation and capital investment decisions are typically handled through separate budgeting processes.
Walmart’s buyback activity has accelerated significantly in recent years as the company grew more profitable and expanded its e-commerce operations, with the company spending $8.09 billion on repurchases in fiscal year 2026 alone.
Walmart founder Sam Walton wrote in his autobiography, “Sam Walton: Made In America,” that “the more you share profits with your associates — whether it’s in salaries or incentives or bonuses or stock discounts — the more profit will accrue to the company.”
That philosophy continues to shape how Walmart’s leadership frames capital allocation decisions, even as the debate over who ultimately benefits from those decisions grows louder.
