Walmart jumps to Nasdaq in biggest exchange transfer on record

Walmart Inc., the world’s biggest retailer, said it will move its stock listing to the Nasdaq, marking the largest defection in the New York Stock Exchange’s history.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company, which has been on the NYSE since 1972, said it expects its shares to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the highest of the exchange’s three tiers, on Dec. 9. The move to the tech-heavy Nasdaq reflects Walmart’s “technology-forward approach,” the retailer said, and it will transfer the listing of nine bonds to the exchange as well. Its stock will trade under its current ticker symbol, “WMT.”

Large companies have made the move before, with PepsiCo Inc. abandoning its nearly century-long listing on the NYSE in 2017. With a market capitalization of about $166 billion at the time, it was then the biggest company to transfer to Nasdaq, later topped by Linde Plc, which shifted to Nasdaq with a value of roughly $180 billion at the time. Walmart’s market cap, meanwhile, tops $800 billion.

Nasdaq said last year that some 40 members of the S&P 500 have migrated, with 24 of those companies now in the Nasdaq-100 index.