OpenAI Partnership Fuels Walmart Stock to Record High

Walmart’s agentic commerce partnership with OpenAI reportedly drove the retailer’s stock 5% higher, marking its biggest one-day gain since April and taking it to a record high.

The partnership could also help Walmart, whose shares have already been on the rise for three years, boost its valuation to $1 trillion, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Oct. 15), citing Mizuho analyst David Bellinger.

Walmart is “clearly ahead of the curve here, while others have been slow to adapt or even made efforts to block AI web crawlers,” Bellinger said, per the report.

The company’s market capitalization is currently at $854 billion, according to the report.

Only 11 stocks are currently valued at more than $1 trillion, and only two of them — Berkshire Hathaway and Saudi Aramco — are not technology companies, per the report.

Beyond the new partnership with OpenAI, Walmart has also benefited from gains in market share as it meets the needs of value-seeking shoppers, the report said.

Walmart announced its partnership with OpenAI on Tuesday (Oct. 14), saying the companies will create AI-first shopping experiences that allow Walmart customers and Sam’s Club members to complete purchases directly within ChatGPT using Instant Checkout.

“For many years now, eCommerce shopping experiences have consisted of a search bar and a long list of item responses,” Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart Inc., said when announcing the partnership. “That is about to change. There is a native AI experience coming that is multi-media, personalized and contextual. We are running towards that more enjoyable and convenient future with Sparky and through partnerships including this important step with OpenAI.”

OpenAI introduced Instant Checkout on Sept. 29, saying that this new eCommerce component added to its popular AI chatbot ChatGPT “marks the next step in agentic commerce, where ChatGPT doesn’t just help you find what to buy, it also helps you buy it.”

“For shoppers, it’s seamless: go from chat to checkout in just a few taps,” the company said when announcing Instant Checkout. “For sellers, it’s a new way to reach hundreds of millions of people while keeping full control of their payments, systems and customer relationships.”