Wal-Mart

Green Dot's Steven Streit: The prepaid card king

Fast-growing Green Dot has Wal-Mart as an investor. But its stock keeps falling.

By Charles P. Wallace, contributor

FORTUNE -- Not many fledgling entrepreneurs could survive the discovery that their brainchild was a flop. But Steven W. Streit, 49, had a eureka moment that turned his fortunes around. In 1999, Streit, a former adult-contemporary radio programmer, started a business called iGen in the bedroom of his Monrovia, Calif., apartment. The goal: to MORE

Personality counts: Walmart's frugal, but Target charms

Times are tough for many U.S. retailers. But Target seems to keep customers coming back more than its retail competitor Walmart, in part, because it's so darn likable. By Shelley DuBois

Wal-Mart's gender bias case: What's at stake?

The discrimination case, which the Supreme Court is now reviewing, could set a standard for how American companies promote and pay their female workers.

By Elizabeth G. Olson, contributor

FORTUNE -- When it comes to pinpointing how women are faring in today's workplace, there is no shortage of studies, statistics and sharp differences of opinion. But very few, if any, could have as much of an impact on the working lives of American women as MORE

How to crack Asian business culture

Learn the local rules of business first and more practical advice on expanding your company's footprint in China, Japan and South Korea.

By Katherine Ryder, contributor

The future may well lie with the United States, as President Obama reiterated during his State of the Union speech earlier this week, but that doesn't change the fact that many U.S. executives are still grappling with how to do business with an empowered Asia.

Maxims MORE

5 leadership lessons from Goldman's missteps

No doubt Goldman Sachs was hoping for a better PR year in 2011, but a Facebook offering debacle and a widely-criticized business practice review set the bank off on a rocky start. So what good can come from the fumbles? Leadership lessons for us all.

By Eleanor Bloxham, contributor

The calendar pages have turned to a new year and already Goldman Sachs has found itself in hot water, again.

No doubt, Goldman (GS) MORE

Value: Reality or Perception?

I can do no better this morning than to link to my revered Captain's Blog,  FORTUNE Managing Editor Andy Serwer's discussion of the most valued companies in the current marketplace.

The list is topped by Exxon (XOM), which is followed closely by Microsoft (MSFT) and Wal-Mart (WMT). Close on the heels of the big three are Apple (AAPL), whose market cap towers majestically over its actual revenue, and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA), MORE

Your country needs you! Go shopping!

Pick up those new GPS systems, now on sale at Best Buy, Wal-Mart and other fine stores for under $100!

Don't forget that flat-screen TV that's suddenly within your price range!

Remember to stop by the gigundo superstore to stock up on potato chips, lawn furniture and frozen shrimp!

Swing by the enormous drugstore! Get medicine! Print 100 pictures for only $1.00! While you're there, load up on toys, nostrums and personal care MORE

Relatively exciting news from all over

President Obamawent to Russia and did a lot of interesting things, none of which was covered by the Russian media. No TV. No Radio. No Obama for the Russkies.

The top company in the world is an oil company, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B). Also the #2 company. Also the #4 company. Also the #5 company. Wal-Mart (WMT) somehow managed to sandwich itself in there as #3, but it's only a matter of MORE

The Cooler Is Me

I was perusing today's gallery of top performing Fortune 500 stocks on CNNMoney.  Some are well-known, like Wal-Mart (WMT), McDonald's (MCD) and the repository of their activity, Waste Management (WMI). Others, like C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW), which is a logistics provider, are less intuitive.  But scanning the 24 bear baiters, I realized they all had one thing in common.

I don't own any of them.

Not W.R. Berkley (WRB), the insurance holding MORE

Economics for pessimist dummies

Today come reports that the gloom and doom peddlers are still at it, looking a gift market in the mouth. The S&P is showing a heartbeat lately. But wait a minute, they say. We're not out of this yet. This is merely a pleasant meadow we're skipping through on the way to the next abyss.

As always, they have numbers to back up whatever it is they're dispensing. That should not surprise us. Economist types always MORE