Walmart managers can now earn $400,000 a year, no college required, thanks to stock grants

High-performing Walmart managers now have the ability to earn more than $400,000 a year after the retail giant announced it is offering the ability for some managers to earn $20,000 worth of stock grants starting in April.

In a video posted Monday on LinkedIn, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Brian Furner said the amount of the stock grant rewards would be based on the store formats where the managers are employed. Walmart Supercenter managers are eligible to receive the $20,000 limit.

Combined with a previously announced new average salary of $128,000 and the ability to earn up to 200% of that salary in bonuses, a Walmart manager could earn as much as $404,000 a year.

“A Walmart store manager is running a multimillion-dollar business and managing hundreds of people, and it’s a far more complex job today than when I managed a store,” Furner said. “And we ask our managers to own their roles and act like owners. And now, they’ll literally be owners.’

A Walmart spokesperson has told NBC News there are about 4,600 Walmart stores, including more than 3,500 Supercenters.

The company has estimated that 75% of Walmart managers started out as hourly workers, suggesting many never graduated from college.

However, Walmart has more recently begun to look to college grads to help fill a reported slowing pipeline of managerial talent: In 2022, it launched a program for recent college graduates and current college students who are within 12 months of graduating. The program, for which Walmart associates are also eligible, allows the employees to ‘learn the ins and outs of Walmart’ and train to be salaried members of management at local stores.

Walmart also announced this month that the average hourly pay for U.S. workers was set to rise to $18 an hour.