Walton is the only child of John T. Walton, the second son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Lukas was the biggest beneficiary of his father's will and he's calculated to have received a stake now equal to about 3.8% of the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer. His mother, Christy, inherited a 2% stake after John Walton died in 2005.
Walton's fortune is derived from his inheritance of shares in Walmart, the world's largest retailer.
The shares are controlled through the Walton Family Holdings Trust as well as Walton Enterprises, a family holding company. He's credited with a third of the shares that were in the estate of his late father, John T. Walton. The stake is based on an assumption that Walmart co-founder Sam Walton, the billionaire's grandfather, split the shares he owned equally among his four children.
The analysis is based on Wyoming court documents that were unsealed in 2015, a decade after his father's death. Half of that estate was placed in charitable trusts. His mother, Christy, inherited the rest. Share information is based on regulatory filings. The unsealed court documents include the couple's 1982 premarital agreement, asset values at the time of Walton's marriage and death, and a declaration of how he wanted the inheritance to be split. They show that Lukas is the sole beneficiary of any remaining principal in five of the estate's charitable trusts. Tax returns for them indicate investment performance exceeds the amount they spend on charitable giving. The trusts expire in 2036. Walton isn't credited with them because he can't access the funds until then.
He owns 8% of family-owned Arvest Bank. Arvest is valued using the average price-to-book value multiple of two publicly traded banks: Fifth Third Bancorp and UMB Financial.
He's collected more than $5 billion from dividends and share sales, based on an analysis of Bloomberg data. Cash investments reflects these proceeds, as well as taxes, market performance and philanthropic giving.
Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for the Walton family, declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Lukas Walton was born to Christy and John Walton in 1986. He is the only son the late John T. Walton, the second son born to Walmart founder Sam Walton. A Green Beret veteran who was awarded the Silver Star after serving in the Vietnam War, John died in 2005 when he crashed his ultralight aircraft in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Lukas survived cancer as a young child. He went to Journeys School in Jackson, Wyoming and graduated from Colorado College with a bachelor's degree in 2010.
Before John's death, his parents purchased a Victorian house in National Park, California, which Christy gave to charity in 2006. She also listed their Wyoming home for $12.5 million seven years later.
Lukas interned at True North Venture Partners, the venture capital firm founded by his father, according to a commencement address he gave at his high school in 2011.