Comes now the news that Walmart is going into the banking business in partnership with a FinTech VC firm, Ribbit Capital.
Actually, they are developing a new co-owned startup. Remember that detail — a “startup.”
This is so hot they haven’t even announced a name or a launch date, but for some reason they wanted you to know about it. Now.
Let me start with the bottom line, Walmart is launching its “Walmart +” subscription service for $98/year that will deliver the following benefits:
1. Unlimited free “same day” grocery and merchandise delivery
2. Limited free Express 2-hour delivery
3. Discounts on gas at its Walmart gas stations (usually already the cheapest gas in town, always use them when traveling, I think this is worth $0.40/gallon
4. Early access to new products and deals
5. Access to a Walmart + credit card
6. Free access to CAMP, the Walmart entertainment platform — yawn
A couple of weeks ago, Walmart announced that it had applied for a cryptocurrency patent thereby spawning speculation that Walmart Coin was being plotted.
It wasn’t Facebook with a crowd of the crypto Illuminati floating the idea of its Libra coin to be overseen by gnomes in Geneva. It didn’t attract a lot of fanfare, and it didn’t trigger Congressional hearings.
No, it was plain vanilla, retail behemoth Walmart, who without much pomp or even a twinge of circumstance said, “Hey, we might be interested in an actual application of that blockchain and cryptocurrency stuff.”
Who would have ever thunk it, Walmart?
Walmart opens an engineering subsite in Austin? Walmart? Huh?
Big Red Car here on a nippy 33F morning headed to 55F, but 75F on Thursday say the weather fairies.
So, Austin continues to prosper as a home of high tech, in general, and software development, in particular.
A recent addition to the tech scene is a Walmart software engineering hub which will focus on AI, ML, blockchain, and IOT to serve the company’s operations (Global Business Services Division) around the world specifically including finance, governance, human relations, employee training, and manufacturing.
New Walmart engineering hub in Austin By God Texas. That’s Sam Walton’s famous pickup truck getting ready to drive into Austin’s iconic Barton Springs. What would Sam say about Walmart today? [Pic credit: Austin American Statesman]
Amazon is buying Whole Foods? When the Hell did that happen?
Big Red Car — going to be a great day in the ATX.
OK, so unless you were out of the country, you know that Amazon has put its loop around Whole Foods and is trying to buy them. Deal seems to be all but done.
So what does it mean? Haha, that’s the rub. Let’s explore it, shall we?
Everyone wants to peg it as a Amazon v Walmart grocery industry cage match. Is it?
Before we answer that question, let’s take a look at some numbers.
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