Walmart's Q2 Performance Hit By $450 Million In Liability Claims — Just 'Noise In Our Numbers,' Says CEO Doug McMillon

Retailer Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) says its second-quarter results were hit by unexpected legal and liability-related issues to the tune of $450 million, weighing on the company’s performance.

Claims Costs Rise Across The Industry

During its second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon justified the company’s operating income coming in well below estimates, laying the blame on a surprise rise in legal and liability expenses.

“This is below what we expected going into the quarter as we absorbed a headwind of 560 basis points for the expenses related to general liability claims,” he said.

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The company’s CFO, John Rainey, went into the details on this, saying, “This expense pertains to general liability and workers’ compensation ...