Wal-Mart: Predator Capitalism and the Great Game
By Glenn Ashton
This article was published more than ten years ago. The information it contains may be incomplete or out of date.
At the end of September the rumours were put to bed as Wal-Mart made a formal but conditional offer for Massmart, of R32 billion. To put this in perspective this amount is less than 20% of Wal-Mart’s present annual operating income of $24 billion and a fraction of their $408 billion (R2.8 trillion) annual turnover.
While the South African business fraternity has lauded the possible arrival of Wal-Mart on our shores, labour, social and environmental insiders have expressed serious disquiet about the arrival of this giant at the gateway to Africa. It is eminently clear that Wal-Mart views the acquisition of Massmart as just that – an entry point into Africa and a bridgehead to build trade into the continent. Read more