Could Walmart hire enough mercenaries to conquer a country?

[Kassitus]

They have hundreds of billions of dollars. Would they be able to successfully invade countries with mercenaries, and if so which countries? For the purpose of this thread we can assume the U.S. military is fully willing to sell military tech to the company.

 

[bandicoot]

Pass the dutchie on the left hand side, bruh.

 

[BisexualMMA]

If they can take over Weyland Yutani, they can take over a country.

 

[Guestx]

Well, this is officially one of my favorite questions I've seen posted on here.

Could Walmart turn imperialist if it wanted to? Hmm.

Yeah, I'm sure. No doubt they could at least take over some micro-nations.

 

[EJAXXX]

i never did trust Wally World

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

If they can take over Weyland Yutani, they can take over a country.

Dont think many people got this

Oh well

 

[RawHawg]

An army of these men would make anyone back off

 

[KnightTemplar]

It's a standard trope from many dystopian novels, for example the Shadowrun series: Mega-Corps become so powerful they become de facto nation states, with their own laws, military and security forces. In Rollarball, one character makes a reference to the, "Corporate Wars", implying that major corps used to fight each other with their own armed forces.

In the real world, the reason corporations the size and power of Walmart don't start raping small nations like the East India Company did back in the good old days is there are far cheaper and easier ways to make a profit.

 

[Michaelangelo]

heard they are gonna take over Vatican City

 

[Steven_Universe]

Why would they need to? They can buy out any small enemies, and they can never take on USA Russia China.

They might as well stay non violent.

If Walmart wanted to start taking over third world countries they could, but bribery is easier than violence.

 

[BillytheFish]

Dont think many people got this

Oh well

When I was in/out of the US frequently I really wanted to wear the Weyland tshirt to an airport in the US, and when going through customs inform the officer I was an engineer who worked in faraway locations etc, since those fuckers have no sense of humor never did.

 

[Hagelslag2]

Well, this is officially one of my favorite questions I've seen posted on here.

x2. First time in a long time I have actually laughed hard at something posted here.

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Corps like walmart and Google will take over once we colonize space. Like Dark Matter. Maybe b4 that

 

[Kassitus]

Why would they need to? They can buy out any small enemies, and they can never take on USA Russia China.

They might as well stay non violent.

If Walmart wanted to start taking over third world countries they could, but bribery is easier than violence.

True, why roll in with tanks when you can roll in with bankers. But for purely hypothetical purposes, how do you see Walmart doing in these match ups:

x Congo
x Mexico
x Iran(final boss)

 

[Organic Damage]

I don't think anybody can conquer a country solely with mercenaries. They're not exactly loyal. What if the other side starts offering them more money?

Also, not seeing how it benefits Walmart or any mega-corporation to use force to achieve its aims. They already have enough economic clout to bend over most of the countries they do business in anyway.

 

[Fox by the Sea]

think about what bin laden managed to do with barely 100 million.

 

[rj144]

Yes

 

[rj144]

I mean no.

 

[rj144]

I mean... What?!

 

[moreorless87]

Well, this is officially one of my favorite questions I've seen posted on here.

Could Walmart turn imperialist if it wanted to? Hmm.

Yeah, I'm sure. No doubt they could at least take over some micro-nations.

One issue really though is that direct colonialism fell out of favour post WW2, it was not a sound investment in terms of returns on money spent where as having proxy influence over goverments to take what you want from developing nations was much cheaper and easier to hide.