Wal-Mart admits defeat in Germany

Wal-Mart is pulling out of Germany, selling their 85 stores to their biggest competitor, Metro. This is another big defeat for Wal-Mart, who just sold their stores in Korea a couple months ago.

They're taking a beating in Japan and UK as well, as we commented a few months ago, although they are upping the ante in Japan, claim to be committed to the UK, and have invested heavily in Latin America, according to this item from the Washington Post:

Wal-Mart denied that it had any plans to bail out of Britain, where it acquired supermarket chain Asda with some 320 stores and 140,000 employees in 1999.

"Asda is right on track. We've made some significant changes in Asda over the past year, and we're seeing some positive changes there and positive results," a spokeswoman said.

Wal-Mart has invested heavily in other regions in the past year, buying a majority stake in Japan's Seiyu, completing its acquisition of Sonae in Brazil, and expanding into new markets including Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua.