Alice Walton got $33 billion richer last year without running a company. She’s building a tuition-free medical school instead

Alice Walton has been one of the richest women in the world for years. She came by her massive $100 billion-plus fortune by way of being part of the family behind Walmart , the No. 2 Fortune 500 company (only this year beat out by Amazon ).

Walton's wealth continues to skyrocket despite her dedication as an art patron and philanthropist. In fact, between March 2025 and March 2026 , her net worth grew a whopping $33 billion, according to Forbes . Today, she's worth nearly $120 billion . She did that without running the company or even sitting on the board of Walmart, unlike her brothers who also hold significant shares of Walmart.

Alice, who is the youngest child of Walmart founder Sam Walton, co-manages Walton Enterprises , which is one of the two family holding companies that controls an estimated 39%-44% of the retailer. She's estimated to own about 20 million shares of Walmart directly in her name, which would be worth about $2.2 billion by today's numbers.

But Walton, 76, holds most of her stake in Walmart indirectly through the family entities. Walmart's 2026 proxy statement shows Walton Enterprises holds about 3 billion shares directly and votes another 513 million held by the Walton Family Holdings Trust. Since Walton's fortune stems almost entirely from her inherited stake in Walmart, when the stock climbs, so does her net worth.

To be sure, Walton isn't a stranger to work. After graduating from Trinity University in 1971, she spent a short stint as a children's clothing buyer at Walmart before moving into finance, first as a stockbroker at E.F. Hutton, and later ran investment operations at Arvest, the family's bank. In 1988, she launched her own investment bank, Llama Co., which folded after the 1998 bond market crash , according to Bloomberg .

Alice Walton's dedication to medicine and philanthropy

These days, her main focus is medicine and philanthropy. In 2021, she founded the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Ark., her hometown and Walmart's headquarters. She donated $250 million to fund the medical school, which offers a four-year, degree-granting medical program.

It opened in 2025 and welcomed its first class of 48 students. The school is waiving tuition for its first five cohorts , though students still cover fees and living costs.

"The real problem with health care is that there's no incentive in the payment system for doctors to spend time helping you learn what good nutrition is, how important exercise is," she told PBS NewsHour earlier this year. "And, frankly, doctors aren't taught those things because they're not paid for those things."