Wal-Mart has become the largest corporation in the world employing hundreds of thousands of people in the United States and over a million world-wide. The big retailer posted revenues of $351.1 billion and profits of $11.3 billion in 2006. Wal-Mart has topped the Fortune 500 list five out of the last six years. Its sales are bigger than the GNP of over 150 countries. It employs more people than anybody expect the US Post Office.

Over the years as Wal-Mart has continued to grow, Wal-Mart has become a bigger and bigger target of the media, union groups, consumer groups, etc. Wal-Mart is one of the most watched companies in the world. Union groups claim Wal-Mart pays below average wages. Other labor groups claim Wal-Mart discriminates against women. Whatever side of the fence you reside on, no doubt you have an opinion.

Those who love Wal-Mart love it for the low prices and one-stop shopping. With Wal-Mart Super Center stores consuming nearly 200,000 feet of space, thus the name “Big Box”. There is plenty of room for product variety. Super Centers carry clothing, building supplies, furniture, groceries, a pharmacy, etc. Many smaller business co-host inside the store such as McDonalds, banks, etc. In one trip, you can buy almost anything you want.

The folks who hate Wal-Mart say that Wal-Mart has an unfair competitive advantage and is squeezing out the small mom and pop stores. They also believe that Wal-Mart pays below average wages, mistreats their employees and discriminates against women. One such claim states that Wal-Mart pays such low salaries that many of its workers have to go on welfare and food stamps in order to survive. Since our taxes support these services, it means that while we may be saving money on the goods we buy there, it is costing us tax money every time we shop there. For example, another statistic states that 46% of the children of employees’ children effectively have no health insurance, because the health insurance that Wal- Mart provides has a deductible so high that parents can’t afford to take their kids to the doctor. Instead, like most of the poor, they rely on local hospital emergency rooms, which is an inefficient waste of taxpayer dollars.

It seems everybody has an opinion on Wal-Mart. Senator Obama recently stated, “I won’t shop there” at a union rally. US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton refused to accept a donation from Wal-Mart to her election campaign. Already in November last year, she returned a 5,000 USD donation to the Big Box Mart Store. Ann Lewis, Senator Clinton’s assistant, says the money was returned as there are “serious differences with current company practices”. During her Arkansas years in the 1980′s, Hillary Clinton served on the Wal-Mart board.

In many towns, Wal-Mart building requests are turned down as supporting Wal-Mart has become political poison. In Hernando, Florida, county commissioners voted against allowing Wal-Mart to build its fourth Super Center there. During an open meeting, nearly everybody there expressed concern against Wal-Mart and did not want another monster store. The politicians listened and voted against it. They expect Wal-Mart to sue them.

How popular is hating Wal-Mart? Books upon books have been written on the subject. Books such as How Wal-Mart is Destroying America, and What You Can Do About It are best sellers. PBS did a documentary about the store and its practices.

Wal-Mart used to advertise “Made-in-America” merchandise. No more. Contrary to its “all-American” advertising hype, Wal-Mart sources over 80% of its products from overseas. In 2004, almost 10 percent of everything imported to the United States from China was imported by Wal-Mart — making the company, if it counted as a sovereign nation, China’s eighth-largest trading partner. Because of this, Wal-Mart is criticized for causing US job loss. The claim states that Wal-Mart can push suppliers so hard, suppliers are forced to lower costs by outsourcing to China and offering lower quality items.
What do you think?

Keith Scott is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Wal-Mart Forum. His website provides a place for people to express their opinion on Wal-mart. Good or bad, give us a visit and express your opinion on what you think of Wal-Mart

The new Pink Sheets Trading Categories are a tool to help investors gather the information they need on publicly traded companies quoted on the Pink Sheets. Since Pink Sheets is a trading venue that is driven by OTC market trading demand, it is hoped that categorizing securities by their level of disclosure will greatly enhance the capital formation process, and help prevent Micro cap fraud.

The following Pink Sheets categories are a tool to help investors make better informed, educated decisions, and are meant to improve transparency and provide adequate public disclosure in a credible and timely manner. Starting in May of 2007, every security that Pink Sheet quotes will be put into one of the categories described below.

Emerging Equities List:

The Emerging Equities List is appropriate for issuers that are in development stage and are actively raising capital or companies that wish to distinguish themselves as issuers with reputable managements and audited disclosure.

To qualify for this category, companies must be SEC reporting and current in their SEC requirements and meet the Pink Sheets Guidelines for current information, including GAAP audited financial reports. Interim reports must be posted within 45 days and annual reports must be posted within 90 days after each fiscal year ends. The company must also provide detailed information on their financial officers annually to Pink Sheets.

SEC Current

The SEC Current category is for companies that are SEC registered and current in their SEC financial reporting requirements. Companies must post their disclosure by the SEC’s EDGAR system, be current in their filings, file quarterly reports within 45 days and annual reports within 90 days. This level of listing requires a quarterly letter from the attorney vouching for the completeness of their quarterly reports and disclosures.

Adequate Current Information

Non-SEC-reporting companies that are quoted on Pink Sheets that do not have GAAP audits are listed in this category. Pink Sheets confirms that they have met the requirements for Pink Sheets Guidelines for providing adequate current information, which means they must post a quarterly letter from an attorney regarding the completeness and adequacy of their company’s disclosure. They must support a management certified annual audit as well.

Adequate Current Information for Banks and International Issuers

Companies in this category are non-SEC-reporting federal or state regulated banks, insurance companies and non-U.S. companies listed on an international stock exchange. For banks and insurance companies, they must post to Pink Sheets the same information they provide to their regulators. Foreign issuers must post the same disclosures required in their home country exchange. Disclosures in a non-U.S. currency must be clearly labeled, in English and posted in a timely manner.

Limited Information Available

Economically distressed or bankrupt companies that get quoted on Pink Sheets that have posted some information in the last six months, either through the SEC or on the OTCIQ system, but whose disclosure is not current or complete. This category is also used for companies that have not yet met the requirements for the Adequate Current Information listing.

No Information:

Companies in this category have not posted any information in over six months through the venues described above. In many cases, this is because the company is in financial distress or otherwise on shaky ground.

Public Interest Concern:

For stocks with unsolicited spam, questionable promotion or other public interest concerns will be listed in this category. Companies in this category are on the verge of having their stock symbols blocked by the Pink Sheets.

Only time will tell, as Micro cap fraudsters have continually found ways to get around the rules, but this author believes this move by the Pink Sheets should go a long way towards cleaning up the quality of the OTC companies quoted by the Pink Sheets.

(c)2006 Stan Medley

Stan Medley is a consultant that has been assisting companies to go public for over 18 years. Stan is a consultant to Artfield Investments which provides full services for companies that want to go public. Additional information on this topic is at http://www.artfieldinvestments.com.

It is a common misconception in the small business community that one’s company has to be a certain size and have a certain amount of revenues before one can go public.

I have been taking Small Businesses and Start-Up companies public as a consultant for over 10 years now. And for 10 years I have been repeatedly asked in various ways “Can I really go public? We only have a million dollars in revenue. Aren’t we too small?”

The answer has been and still is “Yes, you can go public. And no, you are not too small.”

A company doing a million dollars a year in revenues would be relatively easy to take public. Even a company doing a couple hundred thousand in revenues would be relatively easy. And though four or five years ago we could take a company public with just a business plan and no business operations, that scenario has become, admittedly, very hard to do, though still not impossible.

It has become harder and harder to take a company public with no revenue and no business operations because the SEC and NASD are rightfully trying to eliminate micro cap fraud, but yes it can still be done. If you have no revenues, however, you will have to have patience, some money in the bank to guarantee you can survive for a couple of years, and you will have to be making genuine progress on your business plan to show the powers that be that you are a “real” company and not just a “sham” set up for micro-cap fraud.

The advantages to going public in the early stages, rather than waiting, can be substantial.

1) Leverage a larger retention of ownership

2) Grow your company faster and make it more powerful by attracting top personnel without necessarily huge cash outlays

3) Grow your company faster and make it more powerful by attracting top notch team members to your board of directors.

4) Raise money faster and cheaper by increasing the “liquidity” factor for your investors.

5) Grow your company faster and make it more powerful by increasing your ability to attract “mergers”, “acquisitions” and “strategic partners.

6) Grow your company faster and make it more powerful by increasing its ability to compete for large corporate contracts.

7) Grow your business faster and make it more powerful by increasing your status in the eyes of all those you do business with.

Leverage your personal return on investment as an owner by decreasing the amount of time it will take you to make money on your investment, as well as increasing the valuation of your company, as well as, changing the liquidity of your asset to a much more liquid form than that of a private company.

If you are a small business and you don’t plan to be mom-and-pop forever, then “Going Public” is something you should look into in the very early stages. “Public” money is usually a lot cheaper than “private” money.

I have seen private companies give up 50% of their business for a $100,000 investment. By the time they have raised twenty million dollars privately, they typically only own 5% or 6% of their company. If that individual had gone public as a start up they could have typically raised the same twenty million dollars and still have retained 60-65% of their company.

Of course there are downsides to going public early too, but most of those have to do with being preyed upon by non-professionals, fraudsters, and others who really don’t know what they are doing. If you check out your advisors and get advice and structuring and referrals from professionals who know what they are doing, you can eliminate most of the downside of going public early.

And if you are potentially the next Microsoft (or even just a shadow of that giant), the decision to go public early on could make you millions if not billions of dollars in the extra equity that you retain and don’t give up to venture capitalists.

(c)2006 Charlene Kalk

Charlene Kalk is a consultant that has been assisting companies “going public” for over 10 years. She provides full services for companies, large and small, that want to go public. Charlene provides additional information at http://www.artfieldinvestments.com.