<div>The US retail giant Walmart Stores, Inc. on Friday announced plans to close 269 stores and lay off 16,000 employees, 6,000 of them outside the US.<br /><br />In a news release, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said it would close 154 stores in the US and 115 others abroad, including dozens in Brazil that had recently stopped operating.<br /><br />The 60 stores shuttered in Brazil, a market in which the world's largest retailer has made a big push in recent years, were losing money and represented only 5 percent of Walmart's sales in that country, the release said.<br /><br />The company said it had already been able to "relocate" most of the employees affected by the store closings to other points of sale.<br /><br />The other 55 stores to be closed outside the United States are mostly "small, loss-making stores in other Latin American markets," the release said.<br /><br />The remaining closures will begin at the end of January and in the United States will mostly affect Walmart's smallest format stores, Walmart Express, which had been launched as a pilot program in 2011.<br /><br />The US closures also include seven stores in Puerto Rico (affecting 400 workers), where the retailer - the island's largest with 55 establishments and 15,000 employees - sued the local government last month over a sharp rise in a tax on goods flowing from the group's distribution centers in the mainland United States to its subsidiary in the US commonwealth.<br /><br />Also Friday, Walmart announced that as many as 405 new stores would be opened worldwide during its next fiscal year, with a focus on large warehouse stores and suburban areas.<br /><br />"Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business. Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future," Wal-Mart Stores President and CEO Doug McMillon said in the release.<br /><br />The stores targeted for closure represent just a small fraction of Walmart's nearly 11,600 stores worldwide and account for less than 1 percent of global square footage and revenue, the retailer added.<br /><br />Walmart's share price on the New York Stock Exchange closed down 1.79 percent at $61.93 on Friday, part of a wider market plunge that saw the Dow fall by 2.39 percent. <br /><br /></div>
<div>The US retail giant Walmart Stores, Inc. on Friday announced plans to close 269 stores and lay off 16,000 employees, 6,000 of them outside the US.<br /><br />In a news release, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said it would close 154 stores in the US and 115 others abroad, including dozens in Brazil that had recently stopped operating.<br /><br />The 60 stores shuttered in Brazil, a market in which the world's largest retailer has made a big push in recent years, were losing money and represented only 5 percent of Walmart's sales in that country, the release said.<br /><br />The company said it had already been able to "relocate" most of the employees affected by the store closings to other points of sale.<br /><br />The other 55 stores to be closed outside the United States are mostly "small, loss-making stores in other Latin American markets," the release said.<br /><br />The remaining closures will begin at the end of January and in the United States will mostly affect Walmart's smallest format stores, Walmart Express, which had been launched as a pilot program in 2011.<br /><br />The US closures also include seven stores in Puerto Rico (affecting 400 workers), where the retailer - the island's largest with 55 establishments and 15,000 employees - sued the local government last month over a sharp rise in a tax on goods flowing from the group's distribution centers in the mainland United States to its subsidiary in the US commonwealth.<br /><br />Also Friday, Walmart announced that as many as 405 new stores would be opened worldwide during its next fiscal year, with a focus on large warehouse stores and suburban areas.<br /><br />"Actively managing our portfolio of assets is essential to maintaining a healthy business. Closing stores is never an easy decision, but it is necessary to keep the company strong and positioned for the future," Wal-Mart Stores President and CEO Doug McMillon said in the release.<br /><br />The stores targeted for closure represent just a small fraction of Walmart's nearly 11,600 stores worldwide and account for less than 1 percent of global square footage and revenue, the retailer added.<br /><br />Walmart's share price on the New York Stock Exchange closed down 1.79 percent at $61.93 on Friday, part of a wider market plunge that saw the Dow fall by 2.39 percent. <br /><br /></div>