In the early aughts, Wal-Mart de Mexico expanded rapidly throughout the Mexican republic. The company broke ground in city after city, its footprint spreading to places like historic Hidalgo in the state of Michoacán, and the busy beach town of Playa del Carmen on the Yucatán Peninsula. And 2005 was a particularly historic year, with the company adding 95 stores to its stronghold as a commercial magnate and the largest private employer in Mexico.
Now Wal-Mart Stores Inc. faces the fallout from a New York Times investigation into $24 million worth of bribes that the company’s Mexican subsidiary allegedly paid between 2003 and 2005 in order to build its stores.
