Amazon has a big advertising business. Walmart wants one too

Amazon spent a record $12.8 million lobbying the federal government in 2017. (Dreamstime)

Walmart Inc is big in almost every way – 4,755 stores, 1.5 million employees and US$380bil (RM1.54tril) in revenue in the US alone. But one part of the world’s largest retailer remains minuscule.

“We have a tiny ad business,” chief executive officer Doug McMillon told investors in October. “It could be bigger.”