Walmart had a tough 2015, with shares falling 30 percent. The fallout from that will be a big part of the story of 2016:
The company said the stores it plans to close are generally poor performers, and most are within 10 miles of another Walmart. 154 of the locations are in the United States, two-thirds of which are the smaller "Walmart Express" stores. Only 12 U.S. Walmart Supercenters will close, along with four Sam's Club stores.
Of the 16,000 associates -- or employees -- to be affected, 10,000 will be in the United States. The company aims to place those associates in nearby Walmarts.
But when that's not possible, Walmart said it will provide the laid-off associates with 60 days worth of pay as well as resume and interview skills training.
How many of those workers really do get placed in nearby jobs, and whether worker hours are cut as people get shuffled from store to store, is something to keep an eye on. You definitely don’t want to trust Walmart to live up to the rosy claims it makes in its initial press releases.