Walmart Expands Its E-Commerce Ambitions With a New Investment Arm -
By MICHAEL J. de la MERCEDMARCH 20, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO — The purchase of Jet, an upstart e-commerce venture, for $3.3 billion last summer was
meant to give Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, a way to transform its online retail strategy.
The new venture takes its name from an early Walmart store, built in an old bottling plant,
that the company founder Sam Walton used to try out new retail strategies.
8, an internal venture meant to hatch new online retail businesses.
Mr. Beal and Ms. Finnegan declined to comment on how much money Walmart would commit to the new venture, saying that Store No.
Now Walmart is expanding its e-commerce ambitions, and it has tapped a Jet executive to help it build new start-ups within the company.
“Our goal is to have whatever we work on integrated into the mother ship.”
8 is somewhat like corporate venture arms at other companies and will be charged with identifying emerging technologies that could prove useful.
Along with incubating new ventures, Ms. Finnegan said, Store No.
