Walmart has taken a stake in Symbotic Inc. amounting to 11.1% of the company’s total common stock and 4.3% of its voting power, according to a securities filing.
The disclosure comes after Walmart announced in May that it was bringing Symbotic’s automation technology to all 42 of its regional distribution centers over the next eight years, which was an expansion of a previous partnership.
The retailer said at the time that Symbotic’s system would increase its capacity to receive and ship products to stores, as well increase its inventory accuracy.
Earlier this year, Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs alluded to Symbotic technology helping to reduce time-consuming, labor-intensive work like unloading trucks.
“You can redeploy people to jobs they’d rather do, higher value,” Biggs said at a conference in March, noting also the financial and productivity benefits of such technology.
