Can Wal-mart get the magic back? In the four years since Wal-mart's founder died of bone cancer, CEO David Glass has invested billions of borrowed dollars in businesses that have earned relatively low returns. Glass, age 60, seemed to be a good choice for CEO when Sam Walton, at 69, tapped him to take over in 1988. Investors have knocked down Wal-Mart's market value by $7.7 billion since the day Sam died. Sam built it from nothing to $59.3 billion. …showed first 75 words of 600 total…

…showed last 75 words of 600 total…Wal-Mart stock. Glass, whose stock is presently worth about $63 million, did not sell. Wal-Mart's sales have more than doubled to nearly $100 billion-an unmatched feat in the annals of the Fortune 500. In the forth quarter, Wal-Mart's first earnings drop-off in the 100 quarters since Sam Walton began with little to nothing in 1970. The company was built on simplicity-yet Wal-Mart today, No. 4 on the Fortune 500, is diversified, unpredictable, and very difficult to manage. Reference: FORTUNE 500 magazine, May 1996 issue