4 Million Bananas: Wal-Mart by the Numbers

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court threw out a colossal class-action suit against Wal-Mart on behalf of about 1.5 million female workers, who claimed the retail behemoth had discriminated against them in both promotions and wages. The court didn’t say whether or not Wal-Mart had indeed discriminated against the ladies—only that the suit could not continue as a class-action suit.

The court’s decision has shined a spotlight on other large class-action cases, the future of anti-discrimination suits, and, of course, Wal-Mart itself. So, with that, here’s a list of facts and figures about Wal-Mart, and how it compares to the rest of the world.

Number of Wal-Mart stores worldwide: 9,198

Number of Target stores worldwide: 1,750
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Number of people employed by Wal-Mart, in millions: 2.1

Population of Houston, Texas, in millions: 2.1
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Number of bananas, in millions, a single Wal-Mart grocery distribution center can store: 4

Number of bananas the National Zoo in Washington D.C. buys annually to feed its animals: 7,692

Number of years it would take the animals at the National Zoo to eat the number of bananas in a single Wal-Mart grocery distribution center: 520

Number of Wal-Mart grocery distribution centers: 38

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Amount, in billions, Wal-Mart made in sales during a twelve-month period last year: $416

Amount, in billions, the second-largest company in the world, Royal Dutch Shell, made in sales during the same time period last year: $368

Amount consumers spend on average at Wal-Mart every hour: $47,457,000
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Square footage of the Wal-Mart Super Center outside Albany, New York: 260,000

Number of professional football fields that could fit inside that store: 4.5
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Percentage of American women who shop at Wal-Mart at least once a week: 20

Year Pew Research Center coined the term “Wal-Mart Mom” to describe an influential new voting bloc: 1999

The price of a while Barbie doll on sale at Louisiana Wal-Mart in 2010: $5.93
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Number of current and former female Wal-Mart employees, in millions, who are plaintiffs in the class action suit, Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores: 1.5

Average wages lost per year claimed by each of the plaintiffs: $1,100
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Year German courts ruled Wal-Mart could not ban workplace romances (or “sexually meaningful communication of any type”): 2005