Walmart Inc. won't host its annual employee celebration week this year and will hold its formal shareholders meeting, set for June 3, online, the company said Friday.
After weeks of speculation, the Bentonville-based retailer made the announcement in a news release, citing "the public health impact from the coronavirus outbreak."
"The logistics and lead time required to coordinate 5,000 associates traveling from around the world to attend both the Friday meeting and corresponding Associates Week events has created too much uncertainty to ensure everyone's safety given the current state of the coronavirus pandemic," the company said.
The huge, celebrity-studded celebration on the first Friday in June has been held at Fayetteville's Bud Walton Arena since 1994, Walmart historian Alan Dranow told Business Insider in 2017. Thousands of delegates from the retailer's operations around the world descend on Northwest Arkansas starting on Tuesday of that week for four days of concerts, tours of the Walton Museum in Bentonville and other festive events.