Walmart (NYSE:WMT) gains $18 billion as Vibe.co deal sends unclear sector read

23 June 2026

New York, June 23, 2026, 17:13 (EDT)

Walmart gained 1.9% on Tuesday, finishing at $119.42 in after-hours, which tacked on about $17.8 billion in value. The S&P 500 dropped 1.44%. The Nasdaq fell 2.21%. The S&P 500’s consumer-staples sector ended up 1.8%.

Applying the 1.8% rise seen in the sector to Walmart’s previous market cap accounts for around $16.9 billion of Tuesday’s increase, with about $900 million left above the sector’s move. The Wall Street Journal said Walmart is buying Vibe.co for $1.4 billion. Walmart’s total stock bump was nearly 13 times that deal price, but most of the gain seems to come from a move into staples, not a direct response to the Vibe.co deal.

Walmart is buying Vibe.co, a self-serve connected-TV ad platform with over 10,000 advertisers. The company didn’t share deal terms and expects to finish the acquisition by the end of fiscal 2027. Walmart also said its sales and operating-income growth guidance for that year will stay the same. Connected TV refers to TV delivered over the internet. “We want commerce media to be more accessible, more measurable and easier to activate,” said Ryan Mayward, who leads Walmart Connect U.S. corporate.walmart.com

Vibe CEO Arthur Querou told AdExchanger the company wants to “build the best ecosystem for the performance TV market.” Walmart is pushing its pitch that combining store and online sales data can prove if a streaming ad leads to a sale. It hopes that kind of measurement will bring ad dollars away from Amazon and other rivals. AdExchanger

Walmart is leaning into a business moving much faster than its stores. Global advertising sales jumped 37% for the quarter ending April 30. In the U.S., ad revenue climbed 36%, and Walmart Connect minus Vizio was up 44%. Total revenue for the quarter increased 7.3% to $177.8 billion, with operating income 5% higher.

Amazon, Walmart, and Target are fighting for shoppers and ad money this week. Prime Day at Amazon started Tuesday and runs four days. Walmart’s week-long event began Monday. Target is running its sale on the same days as Amazon. Bank of America thinks Amazon sales could hit $21.6 billion during Prime Day. eMarketer predicts Amazon will get over 60% of spending for the four days. “Shoppers will go to whichever store has the absolute cheapest price,” Cardiff CEO William Stern said. Reuters

Walmart flagged a smaller, longer-dated transaction in a separate update. The company agreed to its first nuclear power purchase, locking in about 176 megawatts with Constellation Energy through two 15-year deals, starting in 2029 and 2030, to supply a future Illinois distribution center. The agreement covers a 30-megawatt uprate—an output boost from an existing plant. Shayne Wahlmeier, Walmart’s energy chief, said the focus is “affordable, reliable, and clean energy.” corporate.walmart.com

But there’s also risk if the staples push peters out and Vibe doesn’t deliver right away. Walmart says buying Vibe won’t boost its fiscal 2027 outlook. The stock is trading at roughly 42 times trailing earnings. Heavy discounting this week might drive sales but not enough profit for that kind of valuation. Ad revenue growing slower would also make paying up for Walmart like a tech stock harder to justify.

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Iwona Majkowska is a financial markets journalist at TS2.tech. She covers stocks, artificial intelligence and technology, with a focus on the stories moving U.S. and global markets. Before turning to financial journalism, she worked in equity research and financial analysis. She is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics. Follow Iwona Majkowska on Google News.

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