Greg Penner Being Groomed For Chairman Of The Wal-Mart Board?

Today’s Wall Street Journal speculates today that Rob Walton might be getting ready to hand off the Wal-Mart Board Chairman position to his son-in-law Greg Penner, and that “changes” could start as soon as tomorrow’s shareholder’s meeting. Penner has managed Walton Family investments for years, and among other things was intimately involved in Wal-Mart’s wildy unsuccessful takeover of Japan’s SEIYU.

Penner, a Stanford Grad who married into the Walton family, was recently nominated to become the third family member on the Wal-Mart board.

New Wal-Mart Director May Herald Changing of Guard [Wall Street Journal]:

Friday’s annual meeting of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. promises to be more than the usual extravaganza.

True, pop singer Miley Cyrus will entertain the expected 15,000 attendees at an arena in Fayetteville, Ark. But the biggest doings may be offstage: A member of the extended Walton clan is expected to join the board in what some Wal-Mart watchers see as the start of a leadership change at the world’s largest retailer.

Gregory B. Penner, who was nominated to the board in April, is the 38-year-old son-in-law of Wal-Mart Chairman S. Robson Walton, himself a son of company founder Sam Walton.

The younger Mr. Walton, known as Rob, has been on the board for 30 years, 16 of them as chairman, and though he shuns the spotlight, he has been deeply involved in every facet of the retailer’s operations.

But Mr. Walton is 63, and he seems to be grooming Mr. Penner, a longtime protégé, for a leadership role at Wal-Mart. “The Walton family is preparing the next generation for responsible ownership in the company and appropriate representation on the board,” said Mona Williams, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.

In 2000, Mr. Penner helped to start Walmart.com, influencing the company’s decision to locate its now-booming online unit in Brisbane, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay area, far from Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. Two years later, he moved to Japan, where he was involved in vetting the purchase of Seiyu Ltd., and became its chief financial officer. The Japanese unit, which posted a loss of $216 million last year, has bled red ink since Wal-Mart’s initial investment.

More recently, Mr. Penner has managed Walton family investments through Madrone Capital Partners in Menlo Park, Calif. But he has remained a quiet presence at Wal-Mart, attending board meetings and offering to accompany executives on trips to Asia.

Through a Walton family spokesman, Mr. Penner declined to be interviewed. “The family is into its privacy,” said the spokesman, Lance Morgan.

After years of lackluster gains and missteps, Wal-Mart is regaining its footing. At last year’s annual meeting, executives announced they had put the brakes on a U.S. store expansion that had cut into returns, shifted gears to improve store operations and increase marketing, and bolstered a stock-buyback program to improve per-share earnings.

The result: Wal-Mart stores are less cluttered and better stocked. The company’s advertising, emphasizing low prices, is more in tune with the times, even as rivals such as Sears Holdings Corp. have cut back marketing because of weak sales. And Wal-Mart shares have climbed about 13% in the past year.

Friends and former co-workers describe Mr. Penner as bright, cool under fire, and someone who wholeheartedly embraces the family’s long-horizon view of business and its commitment to education reform.

“He’d be a very positive influence on Wal-Mart,” says John G. McDonald, a Stanford professor who has known Mr. Penner and his wife, Carrie Walton Penner, for a decade. “His interests are so broad and so global. He brings an investor’s perspective on how to create value in the long term.”

The Penners are part of the Bay Area investment community. Ms. Penner, the daughter of Rob Walton and his first wife, holds two Stanford master’s degrees and has started work on a Ph.D. in education policy. Both of the Penners have prominent roles in charter-school groups started by the Waltons.

Mr. Penner comes from an accomplished family. His parents are sex therapists who have written a dozen books on the topic, all with a religious theme.

Mr. Penner’s nomination to what is essentially a family seat on the board has surprised some because he isn’t a descendant of Sam Walton. But the company spokeswoman, Ms. Williams, said he was a natural choice because of his experience working for the company.

Rob Walton’s younger brother, Jim C. Walton, 59, who joined the board in 2005 and was once considered a potential chairman, has had medical problems in recent years, though the company says these days his health is excellent.

Posted by Eric Bull on Thursday, June 05, 2008

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COMMENTS

omg I love miley cyrus! They should skip all this bizness and just have a three hour hanah montana concert

hannah m. in Bentonville, AR
Thursday, June 05 at 06:19 PM

I am new here and looking to have a great time and learning experience
within your community.

fwboodol in Canada
Thursday, June 05 at 11:48 PM

Hyatt Sells $1 Billion Stake
by Portfolio Staff Aug 30 2007
The deal puts the Pritzkers and the Waltons in same boardroom.

An investment banking, securities and investment management firm, which provides a range of services worldwide to a diversified …
Primary executive:
Lloyd C. Blankfein,
View Full Profile Wal-Mart Stores, Incorporated (WMT)

The Company operates retail stores in various formats around the world and its retail formats include: Discount Stores, Supercenters …
Primary executive:
H. Lee Scott, Jr.,
View Full Profile The Pritzker family sold a $1 billion stake in Global Hyatt, the hotel company it controls, to Goldman Sachs and Madrone Capital Partners.

The deal was reached as the Pritzkers attempt to divide their assets among 11 adult children, as required under a 2001 agreement that was made in an attempt to quell intense family feuding.

The sale also brings a new family into to the mix, as Madrone Capital Partners is the investment firm affiliated with S. Robert Walton, the chairman of Wal-Mart. Madrone and Goldman Sachs will each gain a seat on the Hyatt board.

The Pritzkers have been “trying to build Global Hyatt into a worldwide, world-class player in the hospitality industry,” Hyatt chairman Thomas Pritzker told the Wall Street Journal. “And we’re also trying to restructure the family entity. This transaction supports both of those goals at the same time.”

ddrb in
Saturday, June 07 at 08:39 AM

Penner is a director of Baidu,a Chinese internet search engine.~~~~~~~~ Baidu Signs Cooperative Agreement with China Netcom
BEIJING, April 8, 2008 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/—Baidu.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIDU), the leading Chinese language Internet search engine, today announced the signing of an agreement with China Netcom Group.

According to the agreement, Baidu’s leading Internet search service will be leveraged to help CNC Internet users find information they need online more efficiently by powering a jointly designed search page that users will be redirected to after they attempt to visit an incorrect or nonexistent URL.

“We are determined to become the leading provider of broadband communications and multimedia services in China,” said Yiming Fang, CNC’s general manager of media business. “ The synergy between Baidu and CNC will be enormously valuable for all of our customers.”

“As one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games sponsors, CNC commands an extensive customer base and shares core values with Baidu, such as a commitment to providing user-oriented services. These commonalities served as the foundation of our partnership,” added Haoyu Shen, Baidu’s vice president of business operations. Baidu is increasingly lending expertise in search and product design and development of business models to partners. We find these types of partnerships mutually beneficial.”

“CNC is the leading national telecom operator with dominant market share in northern China,” Shen continued, we are confident that this agreement will strengthen Baidu’s position as the search engine partner of choice for telecom operators seeking to improve services for customers.

China Network Communications Group Corporation (China Netcom) is a leading broadband communications and fixed-line telecommunications operator in China. The Company aims to pursue innovation and growth with a goal to be a “broadband communications and multimedia services provider”.

About Baidu

Baidu.com, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. As a technology-based media company, Baidu aims to provide the best way for people to find information. In addition to serving individual Internet search users, Baidu provides an effective platform for businesses to reach potential customers. Baidu’s ADSs, each of which represents one Class A ordinary share, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ‘’BIDU’’.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ddrb in
Saturday, June 07 at 09:31 AM

Just when everyone thought it was “safe” to come back…

bbrd in
Saturday, June 07 at 04:03 PM

Information is always a threat to the pro Walmart movement. Since bbrd cannot provide any useful or interesting articles or information of his own, stalking you ddrb is a typical and usual best effort. This reminds everyone that bbrd is a perfect example and reason to keep any personal data off the internet.

Dr. Jodi Steinsaltz in
Saturday, June 07 at 06:25 PM

none of you walmart haters like you doctor ever have anything to say and post on here that isnt full of b.s.and ufcw union propaganda.

m att hew vantress in gresham,oregon
Saturday, June 07 at 07:14 PM

Baidu is the Walmart play for China internet exposure and more Olympic Games commercialism from a communist state sponsor of oppression which Walmart helps to fund. Penner knows the game plan for Walmart’s future is outside the U.S. and China is the leading growth economy. Mexico is another Walmart success story with all the crap they pulled down there. The people in the U.S. will never know or care about Walmart involvement in the Mexican presidential elections or much of anything else they do in foreign countries.

Dave in
Sunday, June 08 at 01:10 AM

who care dave big deal all of your favorite stores are involved in the us races and you dont bitch about that so shut up about wm.

m att hew vantress in gresham,oregon
Sunday, June 08 at 03:29 AM

Search Start-Up Cuill Raises $25 Million Second Round
By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 15 Apr 2008

Cuill, a start-up promising “a new approach to search”, has raised a big $25 million second round led by Madrone Capital Partners. It previously raised $8 million from Tugboat Ventures and Greylock Partners, for a total raise of $33 million. The Menlo Park, CA-based company, which pronounces its name “cool” (good luck on that), is still in stealth, but has been the subject of some buzz for awhile. A number of the company’s employees, including founders Anna Patterson and Russell Power, previously worked on search at Google (NSDQ: GOOG). A recent Wired piece on start-ups from ex-Googlers reported that the company’s angle was that it could index the web more economically than Google. Of course, a lot of companies have promised to beat Google in an area where getting people to switch their habits has proven tough. It’s not clear when the service will actually go live. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ddrb in
Sunday, June 08 at 09:15 AM

Company proposals
1. Election of directors - The board recommends the approval of two candidates to the board of directors to replace outgoing members Roland Hernandez and Jack Shewmaker.

Gregory Penner, 38, is a general partner at investment firm Madrone Capital Partners and the former chief financial officer for Wal-Mart’s Japan operations and Rob Walton’s son-in-law.

Arne Sorenson, 49, is the chief financial officer at Marriott International~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Now the Waltons have invested ,with Goldman Sachs a billion dollars in the Hyatt hotel chain,yet is nominating Sorenson ,a Marriot hotel chain officer, for the WalMart board of Directors. Marriott and Hyatt are competing hotel chains. What gives? Has WalMart found a solution to the dead stores across the country-WalMartels,or, a way to turnover the real estate associated with th dark stores ?

ddrb in
Sunday, June 08 at 09:42 AM

Since bbrd cannot provide any useful or interesting articles or information of his own, stalking you ddrb is a typical and usual best effort.<>

So that’s what it’s called?

Where I come from, it’s called “heckling”—something *s cronies have accomplished over the months with near-perfection.

<i>This reminds everyone that bbrd is a perfect example and reason to keep any personal data off the internet.

And here I was thinking it was Tom and Bob who gave us good examples about keeping the personal stuff offline—who woulda thunk??

Nice to hear from you, again, SVD—er, I mean “Jodi"…

bbrd in
Sunday, June 08 at 10:36 AM

Who Needs College?

“a Stanford Grad”

It’s not what you know…

“Mr. Walton is 63, and he seems to be <i>grooming* Mr. Penner, a longtime protégé..."</i>

it’s who you blow! *Grooming? I thought that’s something you did to a race horse. Let’s hope you have better luck than Big Brown at Belmont, Mr. Penner.

ScrewedbyWal-Mart in Anytown, America
Sunday, June 08 at 04:12 PM

omg I love miley cyrus!

What’s not to love about a wholesome tween idol like Hannah?

Ken V in Texas
Sunday, June 08 at 08:14 PM

Gregory Penner is just 38 years old, surely he would bring some new ideas into the old Wal-Mart way of thinking. He obviously ran into problems in Japan, but at least he succeeded in getting the on-line business located out of Arkansas and into California, a very innovative place to be.

Has Wal-Mart been successful outside of the US? I ask this question in my blog on international business. http://www.doingbizabroad.com/320/

Jean in Munich, Germany
Wednesday, June 11 at 07:50 AM

HID Kits
Car DVD
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AnownBeetle in Netherlands
Thursday, June 12 at 10:41 PM

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